Hermès News: 44% First Quarter Revenue Increase | Hermès Blush Beauty | MycoWorks Collab

Model Luisana Gonzalez is styled by Jessica Willis in Hermes Blush, a May 2021 beauty editorial lensed by Elliot & Erick Jimenez.

Hermes reported on April 22 a first-quarter revenue increase of 44 percent, beating expectations and confirming that the “sharp V-shaped exit out of the COVID-19 pandemic” is real for the luxury market, writes WWD.

At constant rates, the firm posted 74.3 percent growth in Asia, with activity in China that the company characterized as “highly dynamic,” while business was “sustained” in South Korea, Thailand, Singapore and Australia. In Europe, sales were down 4.4 percent due to the absence of international visitors, as well as ongoing coronavirus lockdowns. The firm reported 22.6 percent growth in the Americas, meanwhile, marking an upturn in business there.

As always, the staying power of the Hermes Birkin bag contributed to robust, first quarter sales. But it was the brand’s collaboration with MycoWorks, introducing an exciting new material Sylvania for its Victoria bag, that caught AOC’s imagination.

We’ll pick up the story after a look at Luisana Gonzalez’s Hermes Beauty blushing cheeks.

MycoWorks: The Making of Reishi™️ Fine Mycelium™️

An exciting, exclusive collaboration by Hermès and MycoWorks is birthing a new material Sylvania, a hybrid of nature and biotechnology that represents a new generation of biotech materials. The patented innovation is made with Fine Mycelium, sounding much more sophisticated and expensive than mushroom leather.

MycoWorks announced in November 2020 that it had raised $45 million in series B financing, in tandem with the opening of a major new ‘Reishi’ plant in Emeryville, California.

“We could not imagine a better partner than Hermès to present our first object made of Fine Mycelium. Hermès and MycoWorks share common values of craftsmanship, quality, innovation, and patience,” says Matt Scullin, MycoWorks CEO on the company’s website.

Hermès turned to its Victoria bag as the structural canvas for the unveiling of the exciting collaboration.

Pierre-Alexis Dumas, Hermès Artistic Director, says:

“MycoWorks’ vision and values echo those of Hermès: a strong fascination with natural raw material and its transformation, a quest for excellence, with the aim of ensuring that objects are put to their best use and that their longevity is maximized. With Sylvania, Hermès is at the heart of what it has always been: innovation in the making.”

Watch the inspiring video of the making of ‘Reishi’, the generic name of the transformational product, which ended up transformed into ‘Sylvania’ before being sent to Hermès workshops in France where is was tanned, finished and shaped by Hermès craftspeople. It’s very exciting to watch the cast of characters who came together around this innovation breakthrough.

Note that MycoWorks uses only plant-based dyes and chromium-free chemicals in the dyeing and tanning processes. Reishi is entirely biodegradable and less toxic to much less toxic to the environment than bovine leathers and plastic alternatives. Because mycelium can be grown in molds to specific shapes, there is little to no waste.

Three types of Reishi have been tested: Brown Natural, Brown Natural High Strength, and Black Emboss.

Hermès intends to bring the new Victoria bag to market towards the end of 2021.