the flowers being bruised in transport the privatelyowned company recently reintroduced florentine iris which yields an expensive and rare extract after several years to grasse for its no 19 perfume and has set up a partnership with a sandalwood grower in new caledonia the trend to secure materials stretches to clothing too chanel bought scottish cashmere maker barrie knitwear last year and also owns embroiderer lesage and feather specialist lemarie christian dior bought parisbased embroiderer vermont last year perfect skin handbag makers hermes and lvmh have bought up live supplies the former now owns an alligator farm in louisiana and two crocodile farms in australia while the latter purchased the johnstone river crocodile farm in australia early this year to compliment its 2012 purchase of frances roux tannery a highgrade crocodile skin can cost several thousand euros and it takes belly skin from three porosus crocodiles the most soughtafter because of their regular scales to make one hermes kelly bag originally designed for 50s actress grace kelly and still loved by celebrities the bags fetch around 30000 euros each at hermes paris shops industry sources say kering formerly known as ppr may invest in python farms after acquiring exotic skin tannery france croco earlier this year kering declined to comment there are however limits to the kinds of businesses luxury goods companies can bring inhouse which has forced them to find alternative ways of securing supplies hermes is faced with a dwindling supply of calf leatherits no1 raw materialbecause supply is driven by meat traders who are responding to a drop in consumer demand for veal and thus rearing and slaughtering fewer animals meanwhile demand for luxury leather goods is still growing and forcing the price of quality hides up by 2030 per cent a year but raising its own calves makes little sense for hermes as 80 per cent of the animals value lies in its meat and only one or two skins out of 10 are good enough for its handbags with fewer skins available the company is hoping to protect its supply chain by financing vaccines against ringworm which can cause scars thus ensuring more hides that do come to market are flawless published on aug 23 2013 at 0411 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context spam others report join the community of 2m industry professionals subscribe to our newsletter to get latest insights analysis download etretail app get realtime updates save your favourite articles scan to download app christian dior grace kelly cartier invest gucci fendi chanel swatch richemont hermes celine loro piana homenewsfrom reptiles to roses big luxury brands race to secure their supply