# Europe's Luxury Houses Start Spotting Cracks of Light in China > After a punishing stretch of falling sales, executives at Burberry, Kering, LVMH and Richemont are pointing to early signs that Chinese spending on high end goods is stabilising, even as the recovery stays concentrated among the wealthiest shoppers. - Source: Belgium Crown - Canonical URL: https://belgiumcrown.com/article/europe-s-luxury-houses-start-spotting-cracks-of-light-in-china - Author: Belgium Crown Staff - Section: Business - Published: 2026-08-23T16:03:44.688Z - Updated: 2026-08-23T16:03:44.688Z - Tags: luxury, China, Burberry, LVMH, Kering, Richemont, Hermes --- After several quarters of steady decline, some of Europe's biggest luxury groups are cautiously arguing that the worst of the China slump may be behind them, even as overall sales in the country remain deep in negative territory. Chinese luxury spending fell by more than a tenth in July compared with a year earlier, extending a downturn that has weighed on the sector since Beijing intensified its campaign against undeclared offshore wealth, a push that has rattled everything from stock portfolios to casino revenue in Macau. Yet inside boardrooms in Paris, London and Geneva, executives say the trend line is finally starting to bend the other way. Burberry has been among the clearest examples so far. The British trench coat maker posted a 9 percent jump in retail sales across Greater China last quarter, a gain it credited largely to younger, Gen Z shoppers responding to localised marketing, including a tie in with a Chinese nature documentary series. Chief Financial Officer Kate Ferry described underlying conditions as mixed, but said the brand was outperforming a soft market. ## A recovery still tilted toward the wealthy Kering, the owner of Gucci, has told investors it expects its China business to return to growth by the fourth quarter of this year, with chief executive Luca de Meo calling the country a top strategic priority for the group as it works through a broader turnaround. LVMH, the industry's largest player by revenue, says China now appears to be stabilising after multiple quarters of deterioration, pointing in particular to firmer trends in its cognac division and at its Sephora beauty chain. Richemont, owner of Cartier and Van Cleef and Arpels, has leaned on a different tailwind, with tourist spending in Hong Kong and Macau helping offset softer demand on the mainland. Hermes continues to be described by analysts as the most consistent performer in the region, having weathered the downturn with less damage than most rivals. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Simbarashe Gumbo and Laurent Douillet said household consumption in China is stabilising broadly and even rebounding in certain categories, such as high end cosmetics, which they read as an encouraging signal for sentiment across the wider sector. Even so, most executives and analysts are careful to frame this as an early, narrow recovery rather than a broad turnaround. The rebound so far has followed a K shaped pattern, concentrated among high net worth consumers who have kept spending through the downturn, while the debate inside the industry is whether that confidence eventually filters down to the much larger population of aspirational shoppers whose retreat did most of the damage to sales over the past two years. --- Originally published by Belgium Crown. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://belgiumcrown.com/article/europe-s-luxury-houses-start-spotting-cracks-of-light-in-china.