Spanish
The European Commission fined fashion houses Gucci, Chloé, and Loewe a total of more than 157 million euros on Tuesday for imposing restrictions on retailers to set the selling prices of their brands' products in order to ensure they were similar to those of their own stores and protect their sales.
These limitations, which took place between 2015 and 2023, applied to independent sellers in both traditional stores and online and for almost all products designed and sold by the three firms, including clothing, leather goods, shoes, and accessories, as explained by the Community Executive in a statement.
This behavior is contrary to Community competition rules, which is why Brussels has imposed fines amounting to 119.67 million euros in the case of the Italian Gucci, 19.69 million for the French Chloé; and 18 million euros for the Spanish Loewe, after all of them have benefited from reductions in the sanction for having cooperated with the Commission.
The European Commission's investigation revealed that these three companies, acting independently of each other, interfered with retailers' commercial strategies, for example, by requiring them not to deviate from recommended selling prices, maximum discount rates, or specific sale periods.
In some cases, they were temporarily prohibited from offering discounts and, specifically, Gucci even asked merchants to stop selling a specific line of products online.
"They tried to get retailers to apply the same prices and sales conditions that they applied in their own direct sales channels," explained the Commission.
To do this, companies monitored the retail prices of the stores and contacted them if they deviated, and these, in general, complied with the pricing policy of the fashion houses, from the beginning or when asked.
"These anticompetitive practices by Gucci, Chloé and Loewe deprived retailers of their pricing independence and reduced competition among them. At the same time, Gucci, Chloé and Loewe sought to protect their own sales from competition from retailers," explained the Community Executive, stressing that these behaviors lead to higher prices.
Although it was not a coordinated action, the duration of the three cases overlaps and many of the affected sellers offered products from the three brands, Brussels pointed out.
Gucci was the first to impose restrictions, starting in April 2015, and in December of that year Loewe began to do so, while Chloé introduced them in December 2019. In all cases, these ended in April 2023 when the Commission carried out surprise inspections at their facilities.
All acknowledged the facts and have collaborated with the community investigation, which has allowed them to obtain a reduction in their sanctions, of 50% in the case of Gucci and Loewe and 15% in the case of Chloé.
"In Europe, all consumers, regardless of what they buy and where they buy it, whether online or offline, deserve the benefits of genuine price competition. This decision sends a strong signal to the fashion industry and beyond that we will not tolerate these types of practices in Europe," said Community Vice-President and Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera in a statement.
