Chanel flaunts its financial muscles for the first time in 108 Years

Money and worth

The financials put Chanel in the race with other big brands in the fashion industry. LVMH's Louis Vuitton was found to be the biggest and most profitable name in luxury with $10.8 billion in sales . With a 45% sales increase last year, Kering's Italian brand Gucci with $7.2 billion pulled ahead of Hermes International that reported $6.4 billion in sales.

From perfumes to cosmetics

While Gucci is growing more rapidly, Chanel has relied on the strength of its cosmetics division even as its main rivals focused more on fashion and handbags. Chanel said its growth last year was fueled by the new Gabrielle Chanel fragrance, as well as its ready-to-wear and leather collections.

Chanel No. 5, the popular fragrance, first went on sale in 1921 and is one of the most-bought perfumes globally. Currently, one piece of Chanel No. 5 is sold every 55 seconds around the world. Even movie legend Marilyn Monroe was a fan of the perfume. She once famously said that she wore the perfume in bed every night.

Offline stars

While Chanel's beauty products are a hit online, fashion collections and dresses remain off-limits and are exclusive for the store visitors.

Follow me

Chanel also boasts the most social followers - more than 57 million globally - and is the leading luxury brand on all platforms barring Facebook. On Facebook it is a close second to Louis Vuitton with around 20 million followers.

Your own mannequin

If you shop at Chanel 's Couture Salons on 31 rue Cambon very often, you might see your wooden mannequin. The store famously makes wooden mannequins in their exact measurements for their regular customers and celebrities.

100 hours, one dress

The brand boasts that it takes hundreds of hours to create a Chanel dress, more than 100 hours of work to make a Chanel suit and up to 1,000 hours to create a Chanel wedding dress.

One of a kind

To help market its iconic quilted handbags, tweed suits, and fragrances during 2017, Chanel spent $1.46 billion on "brand support activities" like advertisements (starring Kristen Stewart and Lily-Rose Depp) and runway shows.