Givenchy, the French luxury fashion house founded in 1952 and owned by LVMH since 1988, began a full-scale withdrawal from the South Korean market in mid-2025. The brand closed most of its department store locations across the country, leaving only one retail store remaining. Givenchy Korea recorded a restructuring provision of approximately ₩1.2 billion (about 12억 won) as it entered the wind-down phase.
The withdrawal was attributed to a global economic slowdown, a contraction in luxury consumption, and Givenchy Korea's failure to achieve significant performance in the local market. Korean consumers had not embraced the brand's recent creative direction as strongly as LVMH had hoped, and luxury spending across the board was declining as economic uncertainty rose.
The decision affected Givenchy's store network at major department stores run by Lotte, Shinsegae, and Hyundai. Staff were laid off or reassigned. The brand's exit was part of a broader pattern of luxury brand recalibration in Korea, where once-hot European luxury houses found themselves competing with not only each other but also with rapidly rising Korean luxury brands and a shifting consumer preference for niche, experiential luxury over status-label goods.
Closed all but one Korean store, booking a ₩1.2 billion restructuring provision to exit rather than fund a loss-making subsidiary.
Korean luxury consumers did not resonate with Givenchy's recent collections and creative direction, leading to persistent underperformance in the market.
A global luxury slowdown and economic uncertainty reduced the addressable market for high-end European fashion in Korea, where consumers became more value-conscious.
LVMH chose to cut losses rather than continue funding a loss-making subsidiary — the ₩1.2 billion provision was the cost of exiting rather than investing further.
A heritage name and LVMH backing do not guarantee success in a market — when local consumers do not connect with the product, the brand erodes from within regardless of the group behind it.
Givenchy Korea retained only one boutique store, a fraction of its previous department store presence. The restructuring provision of ₩1.2 billion was booked in LVMH's mid-year financials. The brand continues to operate in other Asian markets but the Korean withdrawal represented one of the most significant luxury fashion exits from the country in 2025, a year that saw several European luxury and beauty brands pulling back from Korea's once-booming premium market.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE