Louis Vuitton’s Texas factory, opened in 2019 amid high-profile fanfare by LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault and then-President Donald Trump, has since struggled with low productivity, high material waste, and quality control issues, according to former employees. The facility, intended to circumvent tariffs by boosting U.S.-based production, has been one of the brand’s worst-performing globally. Key problems include a lack of skilled leatherworkers, shortcuts taken to meet production quotas, and defects in manufacturing, leading to high rates of waste and product incineration. Promised job targets also fell short, with fewer than 300 employees on site by early 2025, despite a pledge to hire 1,000.