Gucci
(Founded in 1920)
Guccio Gucci was born in 1881. As an immigrant in Paris and then in London, working in exclusive hotels, Guccio Gucci was inspired with the luxurious luggage he saw the wealthy guests bring with them. Upon returning to his birthplace of Florence, he established
a shop in 1920 that sold fine leather goods with classic styling. Gucco Gucci was succeeded by his sons and grandson. They took traditional leather accessories and redesigned them using equestrian motifs. In 1925, they launched a duffel bag that was a great success. In 1932, the famous moccasin shoe with the tongue caught in a gilt bit became popular. The Gucci loafer is the only shoe in the collection of the Museum of Modern art in New York.
Aldo, Vasco, and Rodolfo Gucci expanded the company to include stores in Milan and Rome as well as additional shops in Florence. The company made handbags of cotton canvas rather than leather during World War II as a result of material shortages. The canvas, however, was distinguished by a signature double-G symbol combined with prominent red and green bands on suitcases, bags, satchels, wallets, and purses. Aldo and Rodolfo Gucci further expanded the company in 1953, by establishing offices in New York City.
In the 1980s the internal family disputes added by the overexposed Gucci name and the proliferation of Gucci imitations nearly destroyed the company, who reputedly lost a fortune in legal fees. Rodolfo’s son Maurizio took over the company’s direction. Maurizio proved to be an unsuccessful president; he sold the family-owned company to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based company, in 1988. In 1989 Dawn Mello was brought in as executive vice-president and creative director of the company. She edited the existing Gucci lines and refined them.
Mello hired Tom Ford in 1990 to design a ready-to-wear line. Mello relocated the Gucci’s headquarters from the business center of Milan to Florence, where its craft traditions were rooted. Mello Gucci, to rejoin Bergdorf Goodman in New York and Ford was named Gucci’s creative director, in 1994. By 1996 Ford directed all aspects of the company, including ready-to-wear clothing, visual merchandising, packaging, interior design, and advertising. Ford struggled to restore the former reputation of Gucci, while redirecting the growing brand to a new level for the market of the late 1990s.
By the end of the twentieth century, Gucci had become a global competitor, and more so after the acquisition of Yves Saint Laurent and Balenciaga. The French conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, gained ownership of 60 percent of the Gucci Group’s stock in 2003. Tom Ford announced his departure from the Gucci Group when his contract expired in April 2004. In 2005, designer Frida Giannini was hired as creative director. In 2006 Gucci opened the Gucci Tower in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo, Japan. Today, eyewear, fine jewelry, and watches are fast-growing categories for the brand.
