David Rosenthal: belief

Transcript context

…Yup. Employee count, they have 21,000 total employees, 7000 are artisans, 62% of employees work in France. They really have stayed French, they've not outsourced. They have 54 production sites in France or what they call workshops, and they manufacture 76% of the objects that they sell in their stores in their own exclusive workshops. They do still have these partnerships with other companies that they own part of, just have a partnership with, or a distribution deal with. Usually what it means is it's sold as an Hermes product, but it's made by another manufacturer. Over the years, they've done this with shoes, umbrellas, leather jackets, raincoats, silverware, and glove. They've had all these independent craftsmen that they contracted with who have these really small shops, really small operations, and don't have the brand reach that Hermes does, but they make Hermes products that are actually made by those people. So it's interesting. I think they are decreasing that when I give the number that at this point, 76% of objects are made in its own exclusive workshops, but it is more correct than not to think about Hermes as they control everything from design to production, to brand, to retail today. Yup. I think a lot of those, there's a silversmith and a tableware manufacturer that they own large stakes into, so it's like a related party. Yup, exactly They have over 300 stores in 45 countries. David, as I mentioned earlier, in 2020, the Wall Street Journal estimated that about 120,000 Birkin and Kelly bags were made in that year. That's about 25%-30% of total revenue coming from just those two bags, which again, you can't buy, and also, you can't even see.…

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