Luxury sharpens focus on sport as Kiwis win Louis Vuitton America’s Cup
Emirates Team New Zealand have won the ‘Auld Mug’ in Barcelona.
Emirates Team New Zealand has beaten out Britain’s INEOS Britannia to win the 37th Louis Vuitton America’s Cup in Barcelona. The ‘Auld Mug’ was presented by Bernard Arnault, chairman and chief executive of LVMH, and Pietro Beccari, chairman and chief executive of Louis Vuitton.
The cup was encased in a custom Louis Vuitton trophy trunk- crafted in the brand’s Asnières workshop in France– continuing a tradition that the French maison began in 1988.
As Grant Dalton, chief executive of Emirates Team New Zealand and the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup, said earlier this year in Barcelona, the alignment between the world’s biggest luxury brand and the America’s Cup- founded just three years apart; Louis Vuitton in 1854 and the America’s Cup in 1851 – is one that makes sense. And one that goes beyond sponsorship.
As Dalton- who has known Pietro Beccari for more than 20 years – notes, you can’t have the America’s Cup without Louis Vuitton. Since 1983 the French maison has sponsored the Louis Vuitton Cup, the series that determines who will compete against the defender (this year Emirates Team New Zealand).
“It’s sort of like mum and apple pie. You can’t have the America’s Cup without the Louis Vuitton Cup because you’ve got to have a challenger,” he says. “A number of teams want to be involved, so the Louis Vuitton Cup is not only prestigious because of the brand and because of what it is, it is also a necessity under the whole way the whole thing is set up,” says Dalton.
“Louis Vuitton is completely synonymous with everything we do.”
This year also marks the return of Louis Vuitton as title partner of the world’s oldest and most prestigious sailing event.
Pietro Beccari congratulated Emirates Team New Zealand on their victory in Barcelona.
“As both the defender and organiser of the Louis Vuitton 37th America’s Cup – and now also the only one to win three times in a row with the same team – you have demonstrated exceptional skill on and off the water, setting a high bar for future editions,” he says.
For Dalton, the evolution of America’s Cup sailing – now more akin to Formula1 racing – is essential.
“My answer always is we don’t ride horses to work anymore. That’s how it works. And if you want to engage a younger demographic, which we must for survival, they don’t want to go slow, they want to go fast … it has to be instant, it has to be challenging and have buttons. It is sailing of this era,” he says.
There is more to come from LVMH, owner of Louis Vuitton, in the world of sport and lifestyle.
Fresh from its 150 million Euro sponsorship of the Paris Olympic Games, earlier this month the group – which owns brands such as Moët Hennessy and TAG Heuer- announced a ten year sponsorship deal with Formula1 racing, beginning in 2025.
Bernard Arnault said at the time of the deal,
“In motorsport as in fashion, watchmaking or wines and spirits, every detail counts on the path to success.”
“Both in our workshops and on circuits around the world, it is this incessant search to break boundaries that inspires our vision, and this is the meaning that we want to bring to this great and unique partnership between Formula 1 and our Group.”
Louis Vuitton has crafted the trophy trunks for many sporting events around the world, including the Australian Open earlier this year.
Annie Brown travelled to Barcelona earlier this year as a guest of Louis Vuitton
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