(Bloomberg) -- Opening a new workshop in rural France isn’t typically a headline-grabbing event. Unless the country’s richest man is the host.

Bernard Arnault showed up in Loire region with an A-list entourage that included French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire as well as his 27-year old son Frederic, who heads the TAG Heuer watch business. A throng of 70 visitors toured the two facilities, where Louis Vuitton will be making a variety of bags and eventually create 400 jobs.

The event highlighted how the chairman of LVMH can command the attention of France’s political elite by touting his company’s Made-in-France credentials. Louis Vuitton is a marquee industry for France, for which luxury fashion is a cornerstone of its economic and cultural heritage.

The new facilities are situated in the towns of Azé as well as Vendôme, where the site occupies an 11th century abbey that was renovated at a cost of about 20 million euros ($22.7 million). The additional venues will help alleviate a supply crunch that’s reverberating across the industry as well-heeled shoppers clamor for handbags, belts and other high-end leather goods. 

Just last week, arch-rival Hermes International said it wasn’t able to meet demand for its leather products that include the Birkin bags. Hermes plans to add three manufacturing sites in France through 2024.

There’s an “auspicious” economic environment in France, which is the most attractive in Europe for foreign investments, Arnault said. “Our craftswomen often manufacture products that have wait lists.”

Earlier this month, a group of workers at three Louis Vuitton manufacturing sites staged walkouts amid a dispute over working hours. Louis Vuitton settled on labor framework last week that reduces working time per week by 2 hours to 33 hours as well as an average wage increase of 7%, or about 150 euros ($170) a month, a representative for the brand said.

Workers at Louis Vuitton “are among the best-paid,” which keeps them loyal, Arnault said at today’s event.

Last month, President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte -- who is known to favor Louis Vuitton clothing -- inaugurated 19M, a craftsmanship center located in the north of Paris, operated by Chanel. The center includes about 600 workers, a third of which were recruited last year, and features techniques such as embroidery, textile-folding and incorporating feathers into haute couture garments.

 

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