The Ateliers Horizons Headphones are the first headphones from Hermès, the French luxury house, created by its bespoke division Ateliers Horizons. Launched in 2025 at USD 15,000, they were developed over more than two years by the workshop's team of about 50 artisans in Pantin, just outside Paris. The design draws on the Kelly bag and on the house's equestrian roots.
Key specs that matter
The headphones are closed, over-ear designs with wired and Bluetooth connectivity. The headband and earcups are covered in hand saddle-stitched Hunter cowhide leather, with lambskin ear cushions and satin-finish microblasted aluminium parts, combined with polished metal components derived from the Kelly bag's clasps and buckles. Controls use physical buttons rather than touch surfaces. Five colourways are offered, natural leather, black, chocolate, rough H and Prussian blue. Detailed acoustic specifications such as driver size, impedance and sensitivity have not been published. Production is a very limited edition that began in summer 2025, and sales are through selected Hermès boutiques.
Engineering and use context
Ateliers Horizons has been led since 2012 by creative director Axel de Beaufort, and it handles the house's most unusual commissions, from surfboards and hammocks to a mirrored disco ball. Hermès had earlier worked with Bang & Olufsen on audio products and made custom AirPods cases, and Ateliers Horizons has also built jukeboxes and a boombox. In 2019 it also produced a music system under the Hermès name, and the headphones continue the aim of developing a Hermès sound. The workshop does not engineer the electronics itself. It works with specialist partners to meet the acoustic targets, while its role is to understand the engineering well enough to push the design. De Beaufort described the edge between industrial design and craftsmanship as very thin, and he stated that the aim is not to reproduce the headphones in large numbers like a mass supplier, but to make the few pairs perfectly. Branding is minimal, limited to a small H outline on the lower left of the headband, in line with the house's sparing use of logos.
Pairing
With both wired and Bluetooth connection, the headphones work with phones, portable players and home sources.
Alternatives
Hermès has no other headphone model, and the Ateliers Horizons music system of 2019 is the house's only earlier audio product.