No Evidence Louis Vuitton Burns Unsold Handbags

Rumors have long circulated that Louis Vuitton (LV), the luxury fashion brand, destroys unsold merchandise, including its iconic handbags, to preserve its exclusivity and prevent products from being discounted. Additional claims suggest that this destruction may also allow the company to recover import duties under U.S. law, incentivizing the practice. 

For instance, one Reddit post on the topic read: “TIL that Louis Vuitton burns surplus bags and products at the end of each year. This maintains exclusivity of the brand and ensures that their products are never sold at a discounted rate.”

The post redirected to an article by Marketing Mind, claiming the brand burns all of its unsold bags at the end of every year “to not sell its products at low prices, in order to maintain the exclusivity that LV is known for.” The post also mentioned “duty drawback” as yet another incentive for this alleged practice. “Although no one from LV has said [anything] about this, many industry insiders believe that the luxury brand even organizes a sale for its employees before destroying them,” the article concluded.

“Is it true that Louis Vuitton burns all their unsold bags?” a Quora user asked in 2013, with one responding “before the burning, they organize private sales for Louis Vuitton employees that other LVMH employees can also attend sometimes,” with another user claiming, “They NEVER have to burn stock because it always sells.”

Similar assertions have gained traction on numerous online websites and social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook and LinkedIn.

But Snopes found no demonstrable evidence of any of this. While there are speculations from trade publications about it, and reportedly similar practices in the luxury sector, none of the available information conclusively ties Louis Vuitton to the practice. Moreover, neither the brand’s annual reports nor any official statements confirm this behavior. We reached out to the brand for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Origins of the Rumor

The idea that Louis Vuitton burns unsold goods may stem from broader industry practices. This topic gained significant attention after other luxury fashion brands, such as Burberry, faced backlash for burning tens of millions of dollars of unsold goods. According to the BBC, in 2017, “Burberry, the upmarket British fashion label, destroyed unsold clothes, accessories and perfume worth £28.6m” to protect its brand.

The in-question LV rumor was also repeated in a September 2018 Vox article on the topic, “Why fashion brands destroy billions’ worth of their own merchandise every year.” The article redirected to a trade publication The Fashion Law (TFL) article from May 2018 as its source. According to the latter (emphasis ours):

The internet is rife with articles asserting that in order to avoid selling its well-known bags at a discount and risk tarnishing its image as a luxury leader, the Paris-based brand burns its excess leather goods. 

But more than a measure to save face in a market that depends largely on appearances, the potential destruction of products by luxury brands – whether it be Louis Vuitton or Richemont’s watchmakers, assuming the industry reports are correct – could have another facet to it. By destroying unused products, brands that import goods into the U.S. stand to benefit from the “drawback” or the return of certain duties, internal and revenue taxes and certain fees collected upon the importation of products into the U.S., for instance, from France.

That TFL article referred to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection program, as well as 19 USC § 1313, the section of U.S. Code that centers on “drawback and refunds,” granting that: “if imported merchandise is unused and exported or destroyed under Customs supervision, 99 percent of the duties, taxes or fees paid on the merchandise by reason of importation may be recovered as drawback.”

According to The Fashion Law, Louis Vuitton did not respond to a request for comment about use of drawback practices. But the article said the brand’s annual reports do reference inventory impairments due to obsolescence or lack of sales prospects, which could involve destruction — but not necessarily (emphasis added):

LinkedIn profiles for a number of Louis Vuitton employees, including “logistics supervisors” – whose duties include, “Perform[ing] reporting and follow-up activities related to duty drawback for both product destruction and product export” – give some potential credence to the theory that luxury goods brands are destroying some of their most esteemed goods. Moreover, in its most recent annual report, LVMH seems to suggest that the rumors do, in fact, have some basis in truth: “Provisions for impairment of inventories are … generally required because of product obsolescence or lack of sales prospects.”

Finally, the annual report for 2023 shared by Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy (LVMH), a multinational conglomerate that owns Louis Vuitton along with other brands such as Dior or Givenchy, did not mention “burning” unsold stock.

Louis Vuitton has not directly addressed whether it destroys unsold goods, but company leaders have emphasized efforts to minimize waste. In a 2021 interview with Women’s Wear Daily (WWD), Michael Burke, then-chairman and CEO, said the company “already reuses or recycles 93 percent of its event and window materials,” adding that the company’s goal is to minimize inventory as an environmentally friendly measure. “We try to plan on selling one fewer rather than one more, which is intrinsic to luxury,” Burke told WWD.

We have investigated other claims about Louis Vuitton in the past, including a rumor that a microscopic Louis Vuitton handbag “smaller than a grain of salt” sold at auction for more than $63,000 and a claim that in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Louis Vuitton sponsored “human zoos” in which Black people were put on display like exotic circus animals.

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