Chanel FW25/26: Inside the Product Development of Luxury
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Fashion as a Process, Not Just a Product
When audiences view a Chanel runway, they see impeccable tailoring, lush textures, statement bags, and striking accessories. What they rarely see is the long, deliberate process behind every piece. The Fall/Winter 2025/26 Ready-to-Wear collection offers a window into how Chanel’s product development operates: not merely as design, but as a system built to safeguard heritage, maintain quality, and assert exclusivity.
Each stage — planning, concept, development, production, and distribution — reflects strategic choices. These choices explain why Chanel remains less vulnerable to fashion’s whims and more anchored in its identity.
A.Seklaoui Chanel Fall/Winter 2025/26 collection
Anthony Seklaoui
Stage 1: Planning the Line
Planning at Chanel begins with a foundational decision: which heritage materials and motifs will define the collection. For FW25/26, tweed and leather were chosen as signature fabrics across clothing, handbags, footwear, and outerwear. This unified material story ensures a cohesive brand narrative and helps consumers see the collection as a lifestyle, not just isolated items (Chanel, 2025).
During this stage, Chanel also determines which product categories to emphasize: outerwear, accessories, handbags, footwear, and more. The decision to deploy heritage fabrics across all categories reinforces brand continuity and cross-category synergy.
Stage 2: Creating the Concept
With the foundational materials and story in place, Chanel’s creative teams translate this into a visual and experiential concept. For FW25/26, the play between scale in accessories — oversized totes and miniature handbags — became a core theme.
This choice is clever: it allows Chanel to stretch its identity into different segments. The oversized bag projects boldness and status; the miniature bag provides a more accessible point of entry for aspirational buyers. Both reinforce the same heritage story, but meet different market needs (Chanel, 2025).
In this concept phase, Chanel also reinterprets its heritage elements. Leather, typically known for handbags, is elevated into outerwear and footwear. Tweed is not just for jackets — it appears in dresses, skirts, and accessories. The concept stage is about re-envisioning tradition for the moment.
Stage 3: Developing the Designs
From concept to tangibility: this is where sketches evolve into prototypes. Chanel relies on its artisan network and internal ateliers to refine fit, detail, and finish. Specialist craftsmanship is critical.
Chanel’s 19M Métiers d’Art campus in Paris is central to this stage. It hosts artisans skilled in embroidery, millinery, feathers, and sculptural techniques. These experts work on pieces across the collection, ensuring that every garment carries a touch of couture-level quality (Business of Fashion, 2023). The development stage is iterative: samples are made, evaluated, refined, and remade until they align with Chanel’s exacting standards.
The atelier network is supported by Chanel’s larger strategy of controlling more of its production ecosystem. This means Chanel doesn’t need to depend on external workshops for many of its advanced techniques — it owns many of them.
Chanel’s Workshops, 1993 by Agnès Bonnot (Agence VU’)
Stage 4: Planning Production
Once designs are settled, Chanel plans exactly how and where each piece will be produced. In recent years, Chanel has aggressively moved toward vertical integration, acquiring several manufacturers and bringing a substantial share of production in-house. Reports show that about one-third of Chanel’s output is now produced internally, supported by a network of over 40 sites (Business of Fashion, 2023).
This integration brings multiple advantages: tighter quality control, reduced reliance on external suppliers, protection of artisanal know-how, and insulation from global supply chain disruptions.
Chanel has also invested in specialized suppliers, such as Italian yarn and fabric mills, ensuring traceability and control over raw materials (Vogue Business, 2023). At the same time, the company announced nearly $600 million in annual capital investments dedicated to reinforcing its vertical integration strategy (GE Magazine, 2024).
Thus, production planning isn’t just about logistics — it’s about owning the means of production, protecting brand integrity, and future-proofing operations.
Stage 5: Production
Chanel’s actual production is careful, deliberate, and heavily reliant on craftsmanship. In its leather workshop in Verneuil-en-Halatte, a single Chanel handbag may pass through up to 180 individual hand operations — each seam, stitch, or edge finished by hand (Le Monde, 2025).
Unlike fast fashion, which prioritizes speed and volume, Chanel’s production emphasizes quality, precision, and heritage. Artisans work slowly, often in France or in workshops Chanel controls. The production stage is where the brand’s identity is physically manifested.
Having internal control also helps Chanel maintain consistency across categories. Whether leather goods, outerwear, or accessories, Chanel enforces uniform standards, reducing errors or inconsistencies that external factories might introduce.
Stage 6: Distribution
After production, Chanel’s pieces move to boutiques and retail locations — but not in a mass-market fashion. Chanel carefully curates which items go where. Every store receives a slightly different assortment, limiting ubiquity and preserving exclusivity.
This curated distribution means shopping in one city doesn’t deliver the same product mix as elsewhere. It underscores luxury’s promise: scarcity, uniqueness, and destination. Chanel is also expanding its retail investment, securing flagship properties in global capitals to ensure consistency of experience while reinforcing exclusivity (Supply Chain Report, 2023).
A Handbag’s Journey: Storytelling in Practice
To illustrate Chanel’s process, consider a handbag from the FW25/26 collection:
Planning: Creative directors choose leather as a seasonal anchor fabric, ensuring the bag complements coats and footwear.
Concept: Designers decide whether the piece will be oversized, miniature, or classic, balancing heritage with playful scale.
Development: At 19M, artisans create prototypes, testing stitching, closures, and embellishments. Adjustments are made until the design meets Chanel standards.
Production Planning: Chanel allocates the design to its Verneuil-en-Halatte leather workshop, where capacity and artisan expertise align. Materials are secured from controlled suppliers.
Production: The bag undergoes 180 hand-finished operations, ensuring perfect quality.
Distribution: Only a select number of boutiques receive the bag, often in limited colorways, maintaining its exclusivity.
This journey shows how every step is intentional. Nothing is rushed, and nothing is accidental.
Why Chanel’s Process Matters to Consumers
For the consumer, Chanel’s system translates into trust, exclusivity, and cultural value. Buyers know that:
Their purchase was made with time and expertise, not mass production.
The supply chain was carefully managed for quality and provenance.
Each piece is part of a larger heritage story.
This makes Chanel goods not just fashion, but investments. A Chanel handbag often retains or grows in value because the brand protects its scarcity and craftsmanship.
Chanel vs. Fast Fashion: Two Different Worlds
Fast fashion brands like Zara or Shein move from sketch to store in weeks. They rely on outsourced factories, mass production, and high turnover. While they make fashion accessible, the process is about speed and scale, not heritage.
Chanel, by contrast, invests years into acquiring suppliers, preserving artisanship, and building vertically integrated systems. A single handbag may take days or weeks to complete. Distribution is curated, not globalized. Chanel’s model proves that luxury thrives not by racing faster, but by moving with intention.
A.Seklaoui Chanel Fall/Winter 2025/26 collection
Anthony Seklaoui
A.Seklaoui Chanel Fall/Winter 2025/26 collection
Anthony Seklaoui
Process is Legacy
Chanel’s Fall/Winter 2025/26 collection is more than visual spectacle—it’s the result of a deeply orchestrated product development system, built to protect identity, craftsmanship, and exclusivity.
From the first planning decisions to the retail display, each phase is interlocked. Heritage fabrics give coherence; artisan workshops bring them alive; vertical integration anchors control; and curated distribution preserves desire.
In a world where fashion often seems disposable, Chanel’s model shows that luxury isn’t only about what you see — it’s about the magnificence of how it’s made.
References
References
Business of Fashion. (2023, June 15). How Chanel is strengthening its supply chain. Business of Fashion. https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/luxury/how-chanel-is-strengthening-its-supply-chain/
Chanel. (2025). Fall-Winter 2025/26 Ready-to-Wear collection. Chanel. https://www.chanel.com/us/fashion/collection/fall-winter-2025-26/
Le Monde. (2025, May 1). At the heart of Chanel’s leather workshops near Paris. Le Monde. https://www.lemonde.fr/en/lifestyle/article/2025/05/01/at-the-heart-of-chanel-s-leather-workshops-near-paris_6740788_37.html
GE Magazine. (2024). Steady in the storm: Why Chanel is doubling down despite a global luxury slowdown. https://ge-magazine.com/steady-in-the-storm-why-chanel-is-doubling-down-despite-a-global-luxury-slowdown/
Vogue Business. (2023). Why luxury brands are teaming up to acquire stakes in their suppliers. https://www.voguebusiness.com/fashion/why-luxury-brands-are-teaming-up-to-acquire-stakes-in-their-suppliers
Supply Chain Report. (2023). Chanel announces increased investment in retail sites and supply chain integration. https://supplychainreport.org/chanel-announces-increased-investment-in-retail-sites-and-supply-chain-integration/
OpenAI. (2025). ChatGPT (GPT-5) [Large language model]. OpenAI. https://chat.openai.com/
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