AEPC Chairman Meets LVMH in Paris on Luxury Apparel Sourcing

05 September 2026: Apparel Export Promotion Council Chairman Dr. A. Sakthivel met representatives of French luxury group LVMH in Paris as Indian manufacturers looked for luxury apparel sourcing work with French fashion houses. The talks sat beside a 2 September 2026 India-France trade-show pact.

What AEPC said about the LVMH talks

Dr. A. Sakthivel is in his fifth term as chairman of the council. AEPC’s public posts said he held an interaction with LVMH in Paris and that the discussion covered closer work on textile and apparel sourcing and luxury production. LVMH is the world leader in high-quality products, groups luxury fashion and lifestyle maisons that buy against tight design and quality rules. Traceability is part of that buyer’s checklist, and most volume exporters still treat it as extra paperwork. 

What luxury apparel sourcing actually demands

India already ships garments at scale. The harder job is winning design-led, higher-margin work: hand embroidery, surface ornamentation, weaving, leather craft and short runs that luxury brands actually reorder. Exporters who want that business will need design capacity, specialised finishing, consistent quality, traceability systems and a way to protect patterns and intellectual property. Volume factories that cannot do small lots will not clear luxury audits. That is also why AEPC has been pressing an apparel export policy 

Première Vision pact signed on 2 September

On 2 September 2026, the Bharat Tex Trade Federation and Première Vision SA signed a multi-year memorandum of understanding at the Première Vision exhibition in Paris. Dr. Sakthivel signed as a BTTF core committee member and AEPC chairman. Florence Rousson, Chief Executive of Première Vision’s fashion division, signed for the French side, according to a Paris signing report.

Textile Secretary Neelam Shami Rao and Development Commissioner for Handlooms Dr. M. Beena attended the signing. The pact follows a letter of intent signed on 14 July 2026 during Bharat Tex 2026 in New Delhi. Planned work includes exhibitor and buyer exchanges, market intelligence, circularity and traceability, and a heritage-crafts programme. One follow-up, titled A Living Thread, is scheduled for January 2027 to put Indian hand embroidery and handloom next to French atelier work.

AEPC had already tested that buyer conversation at home in April 2026 through a buying-house round table tied to Bharat Tex. A Paris meeting with LVMH, and a trade-show MoU the same week, only set the table. Indian exporters still have to hold quality on short runs, document the fibre, and keep a client’s design from walking out the factory gate. If those pieces are missing, the photographs from Paris will not move a single purchase order.

FAQs

Did AEPC sign a sourcing deal with LVMH ?

No. AEPC said Dr. Sakthivel met LVMH representatives in Paris in September 2026. 

What did the Première Vision agreement cover ?

BTTF and Première Vision SA signed a multi-year MoU on 2 September 2026 in Paris covering trade-show participation, sourcing links, design, sustainability and craftsmanship, overseen by a joint steering committee.