Darius Sanai: Why is France still the world leader in luxury?

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Bénédicte Epinay: The French luxury industry dates back to the 17th century, when Louis XIV and finance minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert made the political decision that, to enrich the kingdom, France should specialise in creating very high quality products. It was a political decision that created the manufacturers that still exist today. In the 19th century, another political decision encouraged more people to create businesses. Half of Comité Colbert – Cartier, Hermès and many champagne companies – were born then. Later in 1945 we created the haute couture label. So France is politically committed to specialising in luxury. We also have savoir-faire and were able – better than, say, Italy or England – to preserve it. This is the core business of Comité Colbert. We were formed in 1954 – in another political move – to bring together competitors and preserve this savoir-faire.

Bénédicte Epinay, CEO of Comité Colbert, a non-profit association which brings together ninety-three French luxury houses, seventeen cultural institutions, and six European luxury houses

Jonathan Siboni: Luxury before this was limited by people and geography. In the Chinese empire, it was limited to people around the emperor, in the Roman empire by those closest to Rome. Louis XIV and Colbert designed it to be universal – when Versailles was created, anybody could enter and walk within. These seeds developed the industry of today, a worldwide business reaching more and more people. Thanks to institutional support and constitutional groups, we could grow family businesses into industries with know-how. That brought the best talent to Paris and created the best schools, systems and groups – not because we’re better than other countries, but because of the process.

DS: How does Comité Colbert’s cultural ambassadorship support the luxury industry around the world?

BE: Comité Colbert represents French luxury abroad. Last year, we hosted an event in Shanghai to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and China. This is where we are useful: when business is complicated, we bring culture to the dialogue. Next year, France celebrates 250 years of French-American friendship. It’s an official celebration, not through artisans, because the Americans don’t have artisans as we have, but an exhibition of our maisons’ archives about their history with America. We don’t know where we will stand next year with Mr Trump’s tariffs – maybe this exhibition will be useful for negotiations.

Jonathan Siboni, CEO of Luxurynsight and expert on luxury data and strategy, speaking at the Comité Colbert showcase event in Shanghai

DS: How important is soft power in luxury?

JS: What makes luxury is the ability to create. We need genius in creativity, but culture is at the core and luxury has understood this for a long time. With a French luxury brand, it says something about our culture. It distinguishes luxury brands from business brands that just analyse and make products. Today, culture is the core of the economy. Thirty years ago it was resources – oil, cars, banks. Now it’s data and culture companies, because people spend their time on social media or Netflix. And brands have a role to play. The world needs more softness than ever, there is too much tension. The Comité Colbert Shanghai showcase event said: we all have our cultures, but we can find resonance between them. This is central in a world that craves identity.

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BE: A strong economy requires strong culture. Colbert advocated for this early on and it remains key for our government. I depend on three ministries: the economy and the craftsmanship ministries but, above all, I report to the Ministry of Culture. In Italy or England they report to the economy ministry or equivalent.

DS: Because France takes luxury seriously?

Jonathan Siboni and Comité Colbert at their 2024 Shanghai showcase, celebrating the rich dialogue between Chinese craftsmanship and French luxury artistry

BE: Absolutely. Comité Colbert has both luxury brands and cultural institutions as members. Yesterday, the Comité voted to integrate the Grand Palais, and we’re holding our next Les De(ux)mains du Luxe craftsmanship event there in October. We all work together.

JS: These partnerships symbolise the uniqueness of both France and the Comité Colbert. The reason some brands show resilience is because they’ve developed a savoir-faire and commit to it. Craftsmanship is the soul of luxury. What also sets the Comité apart is culture. From a business perspective, you might ask, “Why make a group with both Louis Vuitton and a museum? it doesn’t make sense.” But from a big-picture perspective, it’s wonderful. The vision from day one was bigger, deeper, more sincere.

DS: How do you convince a new generation of teenagers to train to stitch Hermès handbags?

BE: We do face a shortage of workshop talent. So three years ago, we created our craftsmanship events, Les De(ux)mains du Luxe, and we’ve had 30,000 young people visit. Manual jobs have been undervalued for years – people are afraid when their child wants to be a leather-goods worker; they think they won’t find a job, they won’t be paid enough. My first mission is to reassure them we have strong companies to make a career with. We created a TikTok account and made videos of young artisans explaining why they love their job. Then we created #savoirfaire. We had one billion views. When we explain to young people what savoir-faire is about and the careers they can have, they are interested.

Bénédicte Epinay at Les Nouveaux Luxes: 1.618, an event dedicated to raising awareness about sustainable development in the luxury industry

DS: Culture and art are increasingly entwined. Has art become more central to luxury?

BE: It’s been important for years. We buy luxury because of the design and raw materials – this is the rational part. We buy it because it’s a way to show we belong to a category of rich people – this is relational. But we also love the story behind it, the heritage – this is the emotional part, where culture has a role to play. Art is a huge part of luxury’s emotional articulation.

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JS: There’s a balance between the rational, the emotional and the relational, but perhaps most important is the balance. If you make the best products – you have the best quality and the finest ateliers – but you don’t have emotion, then you are not a luxury brand. Luxury is about balance: between a uniquely made world and multiple local consumers, between long-term heritage and short-term fashion, between people who want to stand out and people who want to fit in. This, for me, is where luxury excels. When a brand can cater to super VIPs and also democratise, they’ve found that balance.

Jonathan Siboni in action at Talks with Financial Times

DS: If you walk down the Champs-Elysées during Art Basel Paris in October, every luxury store has an installation. Have luxury brands more overtly embraced art?

BE: Absolutely, because luxury brands need art to highlight that culture is heritage, to foster contemporary creativity, to enhance brand image and to establish institutional legitimacy.

JS: Many luxury products are art pieces. And maybe, in 50 years, some artists will be part of Comité Colbert – they will have developed as a business, and we will view them differently. There’s a difference today between artists and luxury: the day Picasso died, Picasso’s brand died. Artists can produce and make money, yet there is no business survival. Christian Dior trained people to reinterpret his style under his name, and maybe in 50 years it will be the same with artists – people will replicate style through a studio.

BE: Museums today regularly showcase the creations of luxury maisons, and no one asks whether it is art or luxury. I particularly remember the magnificent exhibitions of Dior, Van Cleef & Arpels, or more recently Christofle at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs.

In 2011, the Comité Colbert created the European Cultural and Creative Industry Alliance, which brings together the national luxury associations of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Germany and England

JS: A question for brands today is: how do you stand out? Yes, my brand has a better legacy. Yes, I make better products. But on a screen where people focus for 1.5 seconds, how do I win their attention? My feeling is you don’t want to win the game, you want to continue playing. You change the way you interact, become more involved and collaborate more with entertainment.

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DS: Bénédicte, how do you see Comité Colbert in 2050?

BE: My vision for Comité Colbert is of a much more open organisation. At the moment, we only have luxury companies as members, based on a 19th-century definition of craftsmanship. It’s not an outdated definition, but for me it’s not modern enough. My dream is to open the organisation to startups in the luxury space – even AI, because it brings its own creatives and digital artisans. It would be great to welcome virtual craftsmanship. That’s my dream for the future: to open our doors to all companies creating luxury experiences.

This article also appears in the Winter 2026 issue of LUX magazine.

Series coordinator: Charlotte Martin. Online editor: Cleo Scott. Chief sub-editor: Marion Jones.

This article was first published in the Winter 2026 print issue of LUX. Read this continuing series of LUX x Luxurynsight Dialogues monthly online at LUX magazine

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