Chanel Says no for Online Sales

The Chanel logo is seen in a shop in downtown Rome. (Reuters)
The Chanel logo is seen in a shop in downtown Rome. (Reuters)
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Chanel Says no for Online Sales

The Chanel logo is seen in a shop in downtown Rome. (Reuters)
The Chanel logo is seen in a shop in downtown Rome. (Reuters)

France’s Chanel has no immediate plans for online sales of its coveted outfits or handbags, making it one of the fashion world’s last hold-outs as rivals experiment with websites to win over new clients.

Bruno Pavlovsky, president of fashion at Chanel, said the house will draw the line there for the foreseeable future.

According to Reuters, Pavlovsky told a Vogue conference in Paris: “If you give everything to everyone straight away, I think you lose that exclusivity. I’m not saying we won’t try it one day, but if we do it will be because we’ll really think there’s some added value.”

The label, known for its tweed suits and $4,300-plus quilted leather bags, already sells perfumes online, like its Chanel No. 5, as well as eyeglasses and beauty products.

Web sales will make up some 10 percent of revenues in the luxury goods market this year, which projects they could reach 25 percent by 2025, according to consultancy Bain.

Pavlovsky said that Chanel’s out-of-step attitude was not a drag on the business, adding that the label, founded by Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel in 1910, was reaching an increasingly young audience and had waiting lists for best-selling bags.

According to figures filed with the Amsterdam exchange, Chanel’s net profit fell nearly 35 percent in 2016 and sales dropped 9 percent to $5.7 billion. Most major rivals have enjoyed a sales bounce in 2017.

But buyers want to try on the clothes, Pavlovsky said, adding that the business would look into providing “e-services” to allow buyers to reserve items online or make store appointments.

“Every time I’m in China I meet clients who come and say, ‘whatever you do don’t do e-commerce. The day you do it for us this won’t be exclusive anymore’,” Pavlovsky stated.



Forest Fire Near Athens Under Control, But Area on High Alert

A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
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Forest Fire Near Athens Under Control, But Area on High Alert

A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)
A firefighting airplane sprays water on a hill in Thymari, south of Athens, Thursday, June 26, 2025. (104 Fahrenheit). (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Greek firefighters said Friday that a forest blaze that had forced evacuations around Athens was under control, but warned that scorching temperatures were keeping fire risk at a highly elevated level around the capital and on northern Aegean islands.

Greece has become particularly vulnerable in recent years to fires in the summer fueled by strong winds, drought and high temperatures linked to climate change.

The fire around Athens broke on Thursday afternoon near the towns of Palaia Fokaia and Thymari, around 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of Athens, and forced the evacuation of five villages popular with local and foreign tourists, AFP reported.

Though it was under control on Friday, a volatile combination of high temperatures and strong winds meant that a high risk of other fires breaking out remained, especially in the Attica region around the Greek capital and some islands in the north Aegean Sea, authorities said.

A spokesman for the fire service told AFP that over 100 firefighters with 37 vehicles and a helicopter were on standby near Palaia Fokaia and Thymari.

Fields, olive groves and some houses were ravaged by the blaze.

The blaze came on the heels of another fire on the island of Chios -- Greece's fifth-largest island -- which had destroyed more than 4,000 hectares (10,000 acres) of land in four days.

Weather agencies forecast a heatwave in the coming days with temperatures of more than 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), including in the capital Athens.