The luxury goods retailer Hermès has removed its entire range of leather straps for the Apple Watch from its online store.
The change comes just hours before Apple unveils the Apple Watch Series 9 and iPhone 15, and a week after Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman claimed Apple would “ditching leather for iPhone cases and Apple Watch bands» for reasons linked to the environment and sustainable development.
In a series of posts on luxury for the Apple Watch.
🚨 Hermès has completely removed the Apple Watch from its website. Bands are gone too. None of them show up in search either. AirTags are still listed though.
First image is what’s live, second is what it used to be… pic.twitter.com/peNCDauvPw
—Parker Ortolani (@ParkerOrtolani) September 10, 2023
The Bloomberg reporter, who is often right about Apple’s plans, reposted a post on Sunday showing screenshots of the Hermès website before and after removing a link to its leather bracelets for Apple Watch. 9to5Mac also shared an empty Hermès product page that until recently displayed a range of straps for the Apple Watch.
It is unclear whether the removal of leather straps for the Apple Watch marks the end of the long-standing partnership between Apple and Hermès, or whether the high-end retailer is simply preparing to update its online store with a new range of leather-free accessories — or maybe even leather — Tuesday. After all, as of this writing, the Hermès website still offers a range of leather accessories for Apple products, including AirTag keychains, AirPods Pro cases, and a leather case of calfskin for the iPhone 12. In addition, Apple’s own website still features several leather straps from Hermès.
” For the environment “
Apple’s abandonment of leather could be confirmed tomorrow during the presentation of the new Apple Watch and the new iPhone, perhaps at the same time as a new range of synthetic straps and cases that could replace the options entirely in leather.
Gurman recently said he expected the environment and sustainability to be “a larger than usual part of the September 12 launch“, so Apple could even have relevant announcements to make in areas other than watches and phones.
All will be revealed in a few hours.
