Loewe was founded in 1846 in Madrid by a group of Spanish leather craftsmen, and the brand originated in 1876 when Enrique Loewe y Roessberg, a German merchant of Hessian origin, joined the group.[7] In 1905, Alfonso XIII granted Enrique Loewe y Hinton, a descendant of the original brand founder, the title of Purveyor to the Royal Court. His wife, Queen Victoria Eugenie, frequently visited the store on Príncipe de Madrid street.[8]
By the 1970s, Loewe was expanding into perfumes and fashion with the creation of the Loewe anagram logo, designed by Spanish painter Vicente Vela.
Urvois Spinola Group, 1984–1996
In 1984, Louis Urvois and Gian Luca Spinola acquired the majority of shares in Loewe.[9]
In 1986, LVMH bought the rights to Loewe's international distribution.[10]
LVMH, 1996–present
LVMH acquired Loewe completely in 1996. That year, Loewe had sales of about $200 million, among the smallest of LVMH's companies; ready-to-wear was responsible for 10 percent of that total.[11] By 1997, Narciso Rodriguez joined the company as new creative director[12] and the brand had its first Paris runway presentation at LVMH headquarters in the fall/winter 1998 season.[13] Both José Enrique Oña Selfa (2000[10]–2007[14]) and Stuart Vevers (2008–2013)[15][16] followed. During Vever's tenure, Loewe scaled back fashion to concentrate on handbags, leather apparel and a substantial gift business based on leather picture frames and leather boxes.[17]
From 2013 to 2025, Jonathan Anderson served as Loewe's creative director.[19][20] According to a 2025 New Yorker article on his tenure, Loewe became "both a darling among critics and a commercial dynamo" under Anderson.[21]
Anderson's first ready-to-wear collections for Loewe were presented in 2014.[22]
Since 2014, Loewe's headquarters – including the design team, which had previously been based in Madrid – has been located on Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris.[23] The company remains based in Spain. Manufacture, particularly of leather goods, takes place in Barcelona and Getafe, near Madrid.[24]
In 2019 lawsuit brought to the Tribunal de commerce de Paris, Loewe invoked a non-compete case related to its employment of designer Bruno Sialelli who became artistic director at Lanvin at a time when he was still bound by commitments linked to his prior position.[25] As part of an out-of-court settlement in 2020, Loewe and Lanvin reached an agreement.[26]
Following high-profile collaborations, including designing several custom performance looks for American singer Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour and strong online and physical campaign performance in China,[27] Loewe topped the Lyst's Hottest Brand Index for the first time in the second quarter of 2023,[28] a position previously held by Prada.[29]
After Anderson's departure, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez were appointed as creative directors in 2025, also located in Paris.[30][31]
Locations
Loewe stores are located worldwide. In 2014, Loewe's then-143 stores were concentrated mainly in Spain and Japan, which respectively had 37 and 27 locations.[32] The first London shop opened in 1963,[10] on Mayfair's Mount Street.[33]
In 2016, Loewe opened Casa Loewe Madrid, the brand's first flagship in Madrid and – with 10,750 square feet (999 square metres) – its largest store in the world. It is located in the ground floor of the company's head office in a landmark 19th-century building.[40] In 2019, Loewe outgrew its London store in Mount Street and opened Casa Loewe at 41-42 New Bond Street.[41]
With 41 stores in Mainland China,[42] high profile expansions include Loewe Perfumes in Deji Plaza, Nanjing in 2022[43] and Loewe Gaozhai, a Casa Loewe concept, in Taikoo Li, Chengdu in 2024.[44]
In 1988, Enrique Loewe Lynch, great-grandchild of the firm's creator, founded the Loewe Foundation, a private cultural foundation that supports cultural events and exhibitions.[45] As of 2024[update], his daughter Sheila Loewe is the President of the foundation supporting design and craftsmanship. The foundation supports international prizes for craft and poetry, collaborates with major arts festivals, and also supports other art, photography, and dance.[45]
The Loewe Foundation International Poetry Prize was established in 1988.[45] On its 30th anniversary in 2017, the foundation released a documentary film, POESÍA eres tú, on National Poetry Day.[47]
Since 2011 the foundation has partnered with PHotoEspaña, the largest photography festival in Europe, in most years showcasing the work of a well-known photographer.[45] In 2021 (digitally in 2020; physical exhibition postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic[49]) the foundation presented a photographic exhibition, Divine: an icon of queer culture.[50] which was held at CASA LOEWE in Madrid, and honoured queer icon Harris Glenn Milstead, better known by his stage name, Divine.[51][49] Featured photographers have included George Platt Lynes, Ron Galella, Tina Modotti, Peter Hujar, and David Wojnarowicz.[45]
Craft Prize
Following an initiative of designer Jonathan Anderson, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize was established in 2016, with the inaugural prize awarded in 2017.[52][45] The prize, awarded to a working artist, is worth €50,000, the awards are hosted in a different country each year. Past Loewe Prize winners include:[45]
2024: (Paris): Andrés Anza, for I only know what I have seen[60]
Artist residency
Established in 2021, the Loewe Foundation / Studio Voltaire Award international artist residency comes with a year-long studio space at Studio Voltaire, a £25,000 ($32,522) stipend for accommodations and living costs, a production and travel budget, and a professional development program. Recipients have since included Beatrix Pang (2022) and Prajakta Potnis (2024).[61]
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