Chanel Korea hikes prices of popular handbags

People pass by the Chanel window display in a department store in Seoul on Wednesday. [NEWS1]

Luxury brand Chanel has raised its prices in Korea for the first time this year.

The French fashion house upped the prices of its popular bags on Wednesday by around 6 to 7 percent, industry insiders said the same day.

The price increases are currently stated on its official website.

Chanel Korea issued an internal document mentioning the hike, stating that prices of its popular bags will rise on Wednesday “in response to the increase in the cost of raw materials and labor, a rise in currency exchange rates and inflation.”

For its Classic Flap bag line, the mini's price increased by 6.7 percent to 7.18 million won ($5,316) and the small's by 7.7 percent to 14.97 million won from 13.90 million won.

The price for the medium bag jumped by 7.38 percent to 15.57 million won and for the large, by 6.88 percent to 16.78 million won.

Chanel’s Classic Flap bag is one of the most popular products from the brand; customers can only buy a single product from the line each year.

The Mini Classic handbag was priced at 7.48 million won and the Boy Chanel Flap bag rose to 10.21 million won.

However, the price of the Chanel 22 bag, often referred to as the “Jennie Bag” in reference to the member of girl group Blackpink, remained unchanged.

Chanel Korea hiked its prices twice last year in February and April and four times in 2022 in January, March, August and November.

The company also raised its watches and jewelry prices in Korea by 4 to 5 percent earlier this year.

Other luxury brands such as Hermès kicked off this year with price increases and Louis Vuitton also upped the prices of some of its products last month.

BY LEE JI-YOUNG, KIM JI-YE [kim.jiye@joongang.co.kr]