LVMH is NOT cruelty-free or vegan.

This means LVMH tests on animals directly or through third-parties and uses animal-derived ingredients. Some brands that fall under this category only test on animals where required by law, which means they’re not cruelty-free.

Brands currently owned by LVMH:

Company Overview

LVMH is a GIGANTIC multinational luxury goods conglomerate, founded in 1987 in Paris after the merger between Louis Vuitton (LV) and Moët Hennessy (MH).

They are the company behind Sephora stores and the Sephora brand and are a major force in the wine, spirits, retail, clothing, watch, jewelry, cosmetics, and fragrance industries; they even own a ship yard, hotel chain, pastry shop, and newspaper.

LVMH is notorious for their cruelty to animals in the exotic skin and fur trade and have only recently made the smallest of gestures to switch to “responsibly sourced” exotic skins (*eye-roll*). This comes almost two entire years after PETA presented them with horrifying undercover footage of egregious animal abuse on ostrich and crocodile farms belonging to their direct suppliers.

But that’s not all. Many of their brands still make regular use of fur, angora, leather, wool, and other animal skin and hair, with zero plans to stop. This company is far from cruelty-free.

Ironically, despite all their cruelty in the name of fashion, LVMH maintains an entire “cruelty-free cosmetics branch” under the umbrella of their subsidiary, Kendo Holdings, Inc., which includes many outspoken names in cruelty-free cosmetics: Bite Beauty, Kat Von D Beauty, Marc Jacobs, and Ole Henriksen. It’s so unfortunate that the profit these otherwise cruelty-free brands earn goes directly into the coffers of LVMH, where it is then used to fund animal testing as well as perpetuate the cruelty inherent to the animal skin and fur trade for their other brands.

Animal Testing Policy

Their position on animal testing is virtually nonexistent. The LVMH website frustratingly makes ZERO mention of anything to do with animal testing one way or the other, which should give anyone a clue into how this company chooses to prioritize the issue.

Instead, their only mention of animal testing can be found buried deep within an old company environmental report PDF from 2015:

“The LVMH Group’s policy on the sensitive issue of using animal-testing as part of assessing the safety of finished products has always been clearly defined: the aim is to ensure the safety of our products’ consumers while taking respect for animal life into account. This is why the Perfumes & Cosmetics companies stopped performing tests on animals for the products that they brought to market in 1989, well before the official European Union ban, which dates from 2004. […]

The LVMH Group is particularly vigilant in terms of complying with regulations, the opinions issued by scientific committees and the recommendations of professional organisations, both in Europe and throughout the world. […]

This level of standards enables LVMH to guarantee the safety of its cosmetic products when they are brought to the market. […]

A similar approach is currently under development in China. This post-marketing follow-up of the products enables new research avenues to be explored and the quality and high tolerance of the products to be improved on an ongoing basis.”

What all this means is that LVMH does test on animals and is therefore not a cruelty-free company.

They also torture animals in the skin and fur trade.

Feel free to read their flimsy animal testing “policy” (pages 41 & 42).

Looking for cruelty-free brands?

Browse my curated list of cruelty-free brands to find brands that are 100% vegan and 100% cruelty-free.