Last year, French luxury fashion house DIOR opened a new men’s boutique on the fourth floor of Hyundai Department Store in Seoul, further expanding its business. (Image courtesy of Hyundai Department Store)
SEOUL, Apr. 4 (Korea Bizwire) –Despite raking in over 1 trillion won in sales in South Korea last year, the French luxury brand Dior only donated a paltry sum to charity that paled in comparison to its immense profits in the country, according to regulatory filings.
Christian Dior Couture Korea reported domestic revenue of 1.05 trillion won in 2023, up 12.5 percent from 929.5 billion won the previous year, marking the first time the brand has crossed the 1 trillion won sales threshold in South Korea since its entry into the market in 1997.
While operating profit dipped slightly to around 312 billion won from 323.8 billion won in 2021, it remained comfortably in the 300 billion won range. The surge in luxury spending in 2022 was likely driven by revenge spending in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, while a broader economic slowdown appears to have dampened overall demand for high-end goods last year.
However, as Dior’s revenues in South Korea have skyrocketed year after year, its charitable donations have plummeted as a proportion of sales. Between 2017 and 2021 alone, the brand’s local revenues shot up nearly tenfold from 63.7 billion won to 613.9 billion won.
Even as domestic sales jumped 52 percent higher in 2022 to over 1 trillion won, Dior Korea donated just 16.2 million won to charitable causes that year. Its donation amount inched up to 19.2 million won in 2023 when it breached the 1 trillion won sales mark, a minuscule 0.0019 percent of revenue.
The meager philanthropic contributions are drawing criticism for being disproportionately low compared to the luxury house’s staggering profits in South Korea. In contrast, Dior plans to pay out over 214.8 billion won in dividends this year to shareholders, more than 50 billion won higher than 2022′s payout.
The brand has also twice raised prices significantly in the past year, increasing prices by up to 20 percent for key handbag and jewelry lines in January 2022, then hiking prices again up to 10 percent last August. The iconic Lady Dior Medium bag now retails for 8.1 million won, up 25 percent from 6.5 million won a year ago.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
