Luxury French Brand To Open At Heathrow
Louis Vuitton has confirmed plans to open a shop in London’s Heathrow Terminal 5 this December, despite winding up retail operations elsewhere. The French luxury fashion house has said it will use the 2,152sq ft boutique in the UK’s busiest airport to showcase its “art of travel” ranges. In addition to luggage and trunks, this could include the recently launched BMWi8 collection. The four-piece line was created to mark the German car manufacturer’s first plug-in model. Leather goods, jewellery, sunglasses, accessories and watches have also been confirmed for the signing. It will be the first European airport store for the LMVH-owned brand, adding to an existing outlet at Incheon International Airport in south Korea, which opened in 2011. Bosses will be hoping to capture some of the terminal’s traffic, which reached just under 30m in 2012. It faces competition from the likes of Excess Baggage Company, Rolling Luggage and Tumi. Other premium fashion brands it joins includes Burberry, Paul Smith, Ted Baker and Bvlgari. Louis Vuitton has recently closed several of its outlets in a bid to become more exclusive. No word has been given on whether items from the Iconoclast Project unveiled in June will be included in the stock. These include trunk designs from the likes of Karl Lagerfeld and Rei Kawubu as part of the fashion house’s 160th anniversary.