Gucci

The Gucci fashion house was founded by Guccio Gucci ( Italian: Guccio Gucci , 1881-1953) in Florence in 1904 ^[1] . In his youth, Guccio lived for some time in London, where he worked as a waiter at the Savoy Hotel. The leather bags and suitcases of the guests made such an impression on him that, returning to Florence, he decided to engage in saddlery and opened a workshop that was engaged in the manufacture of saddles, riding boots and suitcases. In 1938, Guccio opened his own brand store in Rome. 1947 - the year of birth of the bag with bamboo handles, in the 1950s there appeared a fabric with a pattern of interwoven ribbons and suede loafers with metal fasteners, which became the company's “branded” products.

Under Guccio Gucci, the enterprise was a single entity, however, after his death, his children and grandchildren got involved in lengthy and costly property disputes. These disagreements profited by the country's most prominent lawyers. Now the family is extremely ashamed of the manifestations of anger and revenge of their ancestors who accompanied these disputes ^[2] .

After the death of Guccio in 1953, the business he founded was transferred to his sons Aldo and Rodolfo, each of whom received 50% of the company. Aldo moved from Italy to the United States, where he was able to expand his business by opening stores in New York, London and Paris, and then, in the late 1960s, in Hong Kong, Tokyo and Seoul.

At this time, a modern company logo appears - intertwined letters GG (initials of Guccio Gucci), a silk Flora scarf worn by Grace Kelly , and a bag with a Jackie O shoulder bag that made Jackie Kennedy famous.

Aldo Gucci expanded the interests of the company by entering into an agreement with American Motors : the 1972 Hornet equipped with a Sportabout van was one of the first American cars to be produced in a special configuration created by a designer from the fashion world. The interior was trimmed with beige fabric in green and red stripes with Gucci logos, the body color was specially selected according to the design decision.

In 1977, Aldo appointed his son Paolo as vice president and general manager of Gucci Shops Inc and the American perfumery division of Gucci Parfums . Thanks to the weakened attention on the part of his brother, who lived in Italy, the main control over the management of the perfumery division passed to his family, while Rodolfo retained a package of only 20% of the shares.

In 1978, Paolo, who wanted to modernize and expand production, was suspended from work in the Italian unit, because Rodolfo wanted to maintain the exclusive production of “manual” quality, which led to an open conflict between his uncle and nephew ^[1] .

In the late 1970s, a series of incorrect business decisions and family quarrels almost led the company to bankruptcy. In 1979, Aldo, wanting to support the Gucci Parfums perfume line, launched the Gucci Accessories Collection line , which included such small accessories as cosmetic bags, pens and lighters, which were much cheaper than the main accessories produced by the company.

The products of the Gucci Accessories Collection line diverged much better than the more expensive products of the company, and this fact was one of the main reasons for the decline: the percentage of sales of exclusive products fell, while many stores were flooded with cheap little things from Gucci. The company's reputation has been undermined:

In the 1960s and 1970s, Gucci was at the top thanks to names such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. But in the 1980s, Gucci loses its position, becoming a sticky airport brand.

- , editor of Vanity Fair

In the early 1980s, Paolo Gucci wanted to produce products under his own name. In order to win this right, he had to go to court. In response, Aldo dismissed his son from all his posts, after which Paolo informed the US Internal Revenue Service about the financial fraud of his father. As a result, in 1986, Aldo Gucci was convicted of using offshore companies to hide profits and tax evasion in the amount of $ 7 million and was sentenced to imprisonment for 1 year and 1 day (in turn, in 1994 Paolo spent 5 weeks behind bars for the non-payment of alimony worth nearly half a million dollars to his ex-second wife Jenny Garwood for the maintenance of their daughter Gemma ^[1] ).

In 1987, Paolo, according to some reports, sold his stake in Investcorp's family business for $ 41 million. At the same time, he announced a debt of $ 90 million. Trying to avoid bankruptcy and wanting to pay off the debt, a week before his death, he signed a plan for restructuring his own debts. His unexpected demise caused a battle for the estate estate and stables with purebred Arabian horses in , West Sussex, UK, valued at around £ 3 million, between his second wife Jenny Garwood and the last wife Penny Armstrong. ^[1] .

In 1983, after the death of Rodolfo, his share in the company passed to his son Maurizio ( Italian: Maurizio Gucci ), which resulted in another conflict between the two branches of the family.

Maurizio, along with Paolo, the son of Aldo, decided to increase his influence on the Board of Directors of the company and formed for this purpose a licensing department of Gucci Licensing in the Netherlands . After the rest of the family left the company, for the first time in recent years, only one person stood at the helm of Gucci. Maurizio ended the family odds that were tearing the company apart from the inside, and decided to look for other talents for the future of Gucci.

Gucci Corporation

Changes in the company that occurred in the late 1980s made Gucci one of the most influential and profitable fashion houses in the world. In October 1995, the company went public and issued shares on the AEX and NYSE at $ 22 each. 1997 was also a very successful year for the company, as it acquired the watch company Severin-Montres , later renamed Gucci Timepieces .

New Management

In 1989, Maurizio Gucci persuaded Dawn Mello , known for resurrecting the popularity of New York's Bergdorf Goodman in the 1970s, to join the restructured Gucci Group as executive vice president and creative director. Gucci America was led by lawyer Domenico de Sol ( Italian: Domenico De Sole ), who assisted Maurizio in restructuring the company in 1987-1989.

Fashion designers and Calvin Klein worked for Gucci's house, and in 1990, at the insistence of Melo, young and almost unknown Tom Ford was invited to create women's clothing collections, before working for for two years.

The early 1990s were the worst years in the company's history. Thanks to the actions of Maurizio, the pace of sales of accessories slowed down, before bringing only $ 110 million annually to the United States. The company suffered losses and was on the verge of bankruptcy, all this caused discontent among the management of Gucci America and the shareholders of Investcorp - after a few years, the majority removed the managers from Maurizio from the management. In August 1993, he was forced to sell his stake in Investcorp's family business.

Less than a year after Maurizio left, Dawn Mello returned to Bergdorf Goodman . Tom Ford, who became the creative director, wanted to create a completely new style for the company, and Domenico de Sol, now the president and CEO of Gucci Group NV , supported him in this.

On March 27, 1997, Maurizio was shot dead by a hit man employed by his ex-wife Patricia. ^[3]

Meanwhile, Domenico De Sol rejects Arnault’s request on the board of directors, where she wanted to access the company's confidential information on earnings, strategic meetings and design concepts. De Sol is opposing the issue of new shares to weaken the importance of Arnault's stakes. He is also approaching the French company Pinault-Printemps-Redoute ( PPR ) with the goal of forming a strategic alliance. Francois Pinault , the founder of the company, agrees with this idea and acquires 37 million shares of the company, or 40% stake. Arnault's share is diluted to 20%. The legal battle continued with a demand to question the legitimacy of the new Gucci-PPR partnership. However, the Dutch courts finally supported the PPR deal, as it does not violate the country's business laws. PPR now owns 68% of the group. The second largest shareholder is Crédit Lyonnais with 11%. By September 2001, the agreement was distributed between the Gucci Group, LVMH and PPR. 2001 was also an incredible year for the Gucci Group with the acquisition of interest in Bottega Venetta , Di Modolo , Balenciaga and the formation of a partnership with Stella McCartney .

After a failed attempt to renew the contract with PPR in 2003 , Tom Ford and Domenico De Sol decide to leave the Gucci Group. Ford's latest show for Gucci was a return to the roots of his first successful collection - the cult of celebrity. Advertising prints displayed models in smooth, simple dresses, inspired by the glamor of silent movie stars of the 1920s . Ford added value to affordable ready -to-wear clothing and used exotic materials such as alligator skin and pork skin. His collection for Yves Saint Laurent followed the leader of the previous season in Gucci women's clothing with uniform kimonos and Asian dresses and classic tuxedos and jackets in the men's collection. The announcement of his departure from the company was accompanied by the full sale of many things in New York stores, and the waiting lists for his latest accessories were formed just a few days after the collection was shown in Milan . In 2005, Tom Ford began designing a line of cosmetics for Estee Lauder and planned his own line of ready-to-wear and accessories under the label Tom Ford .

After Ford left, the Gucci Group retained the designers to continue the success of the company's main label - Alessandra Fakkinetti ( ital. Alessandra Facchinetti ) and Frida Giannini ( ital. Frida Giannini ), who worked under the creative leadership of Ford. Fakkinetti grew up to be the Creative Director of Women's Clothing in 2004 and was in design for two seasons before leaving the company after a managerial conflict. Ray served as creative director of men's clothing for three years until his retirement in January 2006 . 32-year-old Giannini, who was responsible for the development of male and female accessories, currently holds the position of creative director of the whole brand. Giannini's spring 2006 collection was praised for its color scheme and energy, for the first time since the 1995 Ford season , recreating the hype around the company's ready-to-wear . Giannini's collections have since escaped Ford's erotic looks of the 1990s.

In January 2015, it became known about Giannini's sudden resignation from the position of creative director (a month ahead of the contractual deadline and a week before the 2015 men's collection was shown). Her successor was Alessandro Michele.

Gucci today

According to BusinessWeek magazine in 2008, the Gucci brand earned € 2.2 billion ^[4] .

In October 2017, Gucci fashion house announced its decision to abandon the use of natural fur in its collections, starting in 2018. This decision is due to the desire to make environmental friendliness an integral part of the company's business. ^[five]

In January 2018, Gucci got involved in technology and became the first to release his own animoji in the form of dogs that know more than 50 facial muscles, as well as sing and speak with the voice of a smartphone user. ^[6]

Brands

Thanks to a series of mergers, the Gucci Group is steadily expanding beyond the Gucci brand. By 2004, Gucci Group owns whole or part of the following companies and brands:

• clothing
  • Gucci (100% ownership and 100% watch production)
  • Yves Saint Laurent (100%, also 100% - perfumes and watches)
  • Sergio Rossi (100%)
  • Bottega Veneta (78.5%)
  • Alexander McQueen (51%, also perfumes - 100%)
  • Stella McCartney (50%, also perfumes - 100%)
  • Balenciaga (91%)

• Perfumery
  • Roger & Gallet
  • Boucheron (also jewelry and watches)
  • Ermenegildo zegna
  • Oscar de la renta

• Clock
  • Bedat & Co (85%)

The company’s global offices and headquarters are located in Florence, Paris, London and New York. PPR Headquarters - in Paris.

Sources

Comments

• Gucci official website
• Gucci Brand History
• Interview with Frida Gianini