Louis Vuitton creates jobs for Korean women returning from career breaks

Louis Vuitton will create jobs for South Korean women coming back from career breaks, a rare move for a global high-end brand in the fast-growing luxury market.

The French fashion house held the “LV 2023 Women-Up Career Concert” in Seoul City Hall on May 22, drawing about 100 women job seekers.

The program was launched after the company posted a nearly 40% surge to 418 billion won ($320) in operating profit in South Korea for 2022 from the year previous. Sales went up 15.3% on-year to 1.7 trillion won.

Its profit growth outstripped the industry’s average growth of 24% to $16.8 billion in the world's seventh-largest luxury market.

Louis Vuitton will offer jobs to some of the job fair participants. They will be allowed to choose between full-time or part-time work as regular staff, the company said.

To lure future colleagues, a Louis Vuitton employee shared her work-life balance experience in a presentation. She switched to part-time after maternity leave.

The French luxury brand also gave career tips and advice on applications for its jobs during a Q&A session.

The program underlined Louis Vuitton’s efforts to spruce up its image as it is making an aggressive push in South Korea, where luxury fever has spread to millennials and Gen Zers, or those born between 1980 and the early 2000s.

Last month, the luxury brand held a flamboyant fashion show on a modern bridge over the Han River in Seoul. The show marked the world’s first release of its pre-fall 2023 women’s collection.

Attending the show, its Chairman and CEO Pietro Beccari said in a statement that Seoul is a "cultural hub that continues to draw global attention."

The fashion industry leader will offer a one-year mentoring program for new female workers. They will also be granted extra points by participating to be used for their performance reviews or promotion.

Louis Vuitton opened its first flagship store in Seoul in 1991.

Write to Soo-Jung Ha at Agatha77@hankyung.com

Yeonhee Kim edited this article.