Pierre Alexis Dumas, of the Hermès family, is a softly spoken man, gently persuasive rather than ebullient and bombastic.
His naturally pensive mien is tinged with melancholy, having recently lost his father, Jean Louis, the legendary leader of Hermès, who saw the French luxury company through a difficult period in the 1970s and led the brand to the pre-eminence it enjoys today.
