The House of Gucci, better known as simply Gucci, is an Italian iconic
fashion and leather goods label. It was founded by Guccio Gucci
(b.1881 – d.1953) in Florence in
1906.[1] Gucci is considered
one of the most famous, prestigious, and easily recognizable fashion brands in the world.[2]
Gucci generated over US$7 billion worldwide of revenue in 2006 according to
BusinessWeek magazine and was ranked 46th in the magazine's annual chart "Top 100
Brands".[3] For this reason Gucci is the second biggest
selling fashion brand after LVMH. Most importantly Gucci is the biggest selling Italian brand in
the world.[4] The House of Gucci belongs to the
French conglomerate company Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). Gucci operates about 425 stores worldwide and it wholesales its products
through franchisees and upscale department stores.[5]
History of the Gucci
Guccio Gucci was the son of an Italian merchant from the country’s northern manufacturing region. He started the House of
Gucci in Florence in 1906 as small, family-owned leather saddlery shop. Guccio was an exceptional craftsman and began selling
leather bags to horsemen in the 1920s. As a young man, he quickly built a reputation for quality, hiring the best craftsmen he
could find to work in his atelier. In 1938, Gucci expanded and a boutique was opened in Rome.
Guccio was responsible for designing many of the company's most notable products. In 1947, Gucci introduced the bamboo handle handbag, which is still a company mainstay. During the 1950s, Gucci also developed the trademark
striped webbing, which was derived from the saddle girth, and the suede moccasin with a metal bit.
His wife Aida Calvelli had a large family, six children in all, though only his sons—Vasco, Aldo, Ugo, and Rodolfo—would play
a role in leading the company. After Guccio's death in 1953, Aldo helped lead the company to a position of international
prominence, opening the company’s first boutiques in London, Paris, and New York. Even in Gucci’s fledgling years, the family
was notorious for its ferocious infighting. Disputes regarding inheritances, stock holdings, and day-to-day operations of the
stores often divided the family and led to alliances. Gucci expanded overseas, board meetings about the company’s future often
ended with tempers flaring and luggage and purses flying. Gucci targeted the Far East for
further expansion in the late 1960s, opening stores in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Korea. At that time, the company also developed its famous GG
logo (Guccio Gucci's initials), the Flora silk scarf (worn prominently by Hollywood actress Grace
Kelly), and the Jackie O shoulder bag, made famous by Jackie Kennedy,
the wife of U.S. President John F.
Kennedy.
Gucci remained one of the premier luxury goods establishments in the world until the late 1970s, when a series of disastrous
business decisions and family quarrels brought the company to the verge of bankruptcy. At the time, brothers Aldo and Rodolfo
controlled equal 50% shares of the company, though contributed less to the company than he and his sons did. In 1979, Aldo developed the Gucci Accessories Collection, or GAC, intended to bolster the sales for the Gucci Parfums
sector, which his sons controlled. GAC consisted of small accessories, such as cosmetic bags, lighters, and pens, which were
priced at considerably lower points than the other items in the company’s accessories catalogue. Aldo relegated control of
Parfums to his son Roberto in an effort to weaken Rodolfo’s control of the overall operations of the company.
Aldo Gucci expanded into new markets including an agreement with American Motors
Corporation (AMC). The 1972 AMC Hornet compact "Sportabout" station wagon became one of the first American cars to offer a special luxury trim package created by a famous fashion designer. The Gucci cars sported boldly striped green, red, and
buff upholstery and on the door panels, as well as the designer's emblems and exterior color selections.
Though the Gucci Accessories Collection was well received, it proved to be the force that brought the Gucci dynasty crashing
down. Within a few years, the Parfums division began outselling the Accessories division. The newly-founded wholesaling business
had brought the once-exclusive brand to over a thousand stores in the United States alone with the GAC line, deteriorating the
brand’s standing with fashionable customers. "In the 1960s and 1970s," writes Vanity
Fair editor Graydon Carter, "Gucci had been at the pinnacle of chic, thanks to icons such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, and Jacqueline Onassis. But by the 1980s, Gucci had lost its appeal,
becoming a tacky airport brand."
It did not take long before ravaged the company’s pomp by flooding the market with cheap knockoffs, further tarnishing the
Gucci name. Meanwhile, infighting was taking its toll on the operations of the company back in Italy: Rodolfo and Aldo squabbled
over the Parfums division, of which Rodolfo controlled a meager 20% stake. By the mid-1980s, when Aldo was convicted of
tax evasion in the United States by the testimony of his own son, the
outrageous headlines of gossip magazines generated as much publicity for Gucci as its designs.
Rodolfo’s death in 1983 caused a major shakeup in the company when he left his 50% stake in Gucci to his son, Maurizio Gucci. Maurizio allied with Aldo’s son Paolo to gain control of the Board of Directors and
established the Gucci Licensing division in the Netherlands for purposes. (This action would
later have a drastic impact on the outcome of the company’s dispute with the world’s largest luxury goods company,
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton.) Following the decision, the rest of the family left the company
and, for the first time in years, one man was at the helm of Gucci. Maurizio sought to bury the fighting that had torn the
company and his family apart and turned to talent outside of the company for Gucci’s future.
Corporate Gucci
A turnaround of the company devised in the late 1980s made Gucci one of the world's most influential fashion houses and a
highly profitable business operation. In October of 1995 Gucci went public and had its first initial public offering on the AEX and NYSE for $22 per share. November of 1997 also proved to
be a successful year as Gucci acquired a watch licensee, Severin-Montres, and renamed it Gucci Timepieces. The Gucci brand is
considered one of the most frequently
mentioned brands in music. The firm was named "European Company of the Year 1998" by the European
Business Press Federation for its economic and financial performance, strategic vision as well as management quality.
Gucci world offices and headquarters are in Milan, Paris, London, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Beverly Hills, Honolulu,
Tokyo, and Shanghai.
New management
In 1989, Maurizio managed to persuade Dawn Mello, whose revival of New York's Bergdorf Goodman in the 1970s made her a star in the retail business, to join the newly formed Gucci
Group as creative director. At the helm of Gucci America was Domenico De Sole, a former lawyer
who helped oversee Maurizio’s takeover of ten 1987 and 1989. The last addition to the creative team, which already included
designers from Geoffrey Beene and Calvin Klein, was
a young designer named Tom Ford. Raised in Texas and
New Mexico, he had been interested in fashion since his early teens but only decided to
pursue a career as a designer after dropping out of Parsons School of
Design in 1986 as an architecture major. Dawn Mello hired Ford in 1990 at the urging of his partner, writer and editor
Richard Buckley.
In the early 1990s, Gucci underwent what is now recognized as the poorest time in the company's history. Maurizio riled
distributors, Investcorp shareholders, and executives at Gucci America by drastically reining in on the sales of the Gucci
Accessories Collection, which in the United States alone generated $110 million in revenue every year. The company’s new
accessories failed to pick up the slack, and for the next three years the company experienced heavy losses and teetered on the
edge of bankruptcy. Maurizio was a charming man who passionately loved his family's business, but after four years most of the
company's senior managers agreed that he was incapable of running the company. His management had had an adverse effect on the
desirability of the brand, product quality, and distribution control. He was forced to sell his shares in the company to
Investcorp in August of 1993. Dawn Mello returned to her job at Bergdorf Goodman less than a year after Maurizio’s departure, and
the position of creative director went to Tom Ford, then just 32 years old. Ford had worked for years under the uninspiring
direction of Maurizio and Mellow and wanted to take the company’s image in a new direction. De Sole, who had been elevated to
CEO, realized that if Gucci was to become a profitable company, it would require a new image, and so he agreed to pursue Ford’s
vision.
Domenico De Sole was incensed by the news and declined Arnault’s request for a spot on the board of directors, where he would
have access to Gucci’s confidential earnings reports, strategy meetings, and design concepts. De Sole reacted by issuing new
shares of stock in an effort to dilute the value of Arnault’s holdings. He also approached French holding company
Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR) about the possibility of forming a strategic alliance.
Francois Pinault, the company’s founder, agreed to the idea and purchased 37 million
shares in the company, or a 40% stake. Arnault’s share was diluted to a paltry 20%, and a legal battle ensued to challenge the
legitimacy of the new Gucci-PPR partnership, with the law firm of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom representing Gucci. Courts in the
Netherlands ultimately upheld the PPR deal, as it did not violate that country's business laws. PPR now owns 68% of the group.
The second largest shareholder is Crédit Lyonnais with 11%. As of September 2001 a
settlement agreement was put into place between Gucci Group, LVMH, and PPR. 2001 was also an incredible year for the Gucci Group
as it acquired percentages of Bottega Venetta, Di Modolo, Balenciaga, and formed a partnership with Stella McCartney.
In the 2004, the company, with its record high sales, went up for sale. The asking price was £7.2 Billion. Three very
important people in the fashion industry decided to form three individual groups to take a dramatic impact on the fashion
industry. They were Barry Dhillon, Pam Dhillon, and Rebecka John. Barry Dhillon was a highly respected person who was a catwalk
specificationist and perfectionist in all of his directing and fashion roles he fulfilled with a team of 5,000 staff per team.
Pam Dhillon with her organisation, and operation solo fire which put her high team of 10,000 staff to investigate further into
other fashion teams and units, highly trained fashion surveillance. Rebecka John who worked closly with Barry and Pam with her
staff of 4,000 people. The teams became one.[citation needed]
Ford leaves Gucci
After a failed attempt at contract renewal with PPR in 2003, Tom Ford and Domenico de Sole decided to take their leave from
Gucci Group. Ford’s last show for Gucci returned to the roots of his first successful collection: the culture of celebrity. Print
advertisements featured models in sleek, simple gowns inspired by the glamour of 1920s silent
film stars. Ford priced up the ready-to-wear and used exotic fabrics like alligator and boar hide. His collection for Yves
Saint Laurent followed the lead of the previous season’s Gucci women’s wear, with form fitting kimonos and Asian patterned
dresses, while the menswear collection featured classic-looking tuxedos and smoking jackets. The announcement of his departure
led to a complete presale of many items in New York department stores, and waitlists for his last accessories formed just days
after the collection showed in Milan. In 2005, Tom Ford began designing a line of cosmetics
for Estee Lauder, and planned to launch his own line of ready-to-wear and
accessories under a Tom Ford label.
Current creative team
Following Ford's departure, Gucci Group retained three designers to continue the success of the company's flagship label:
Alessandra Facchinetti and Frida Giannini[6], all of whom had worked under Ford's creative direction. Facchinetti was
elevated to Creative Director of Womenswear in 2004 and designed for two seasons before leaving the company after a management
dispute. Ray served as Creative Director of Menswear for three years before resigning in January 2006, citing his inability to
create a consistent image for Gucci during his time as head designer. 32-year-old Giannini, who had been responsible for
designing men's and women's accessories, currently serves as Creative Director for the entire brand. Giannini's Spring 2006
collection was lauded for its color and energy, recreating the buzz around the company's ready-to-wear that was first heard after
Ford's 1995 season. Giannini's collections have thereafter departed from Ford's erotic 1990s looks. Even her fall-winter 2006
collection, with its sky-high hemlines and revealing necklines "wasn't quite Tom Ford's all-out orgy of glamour", as a review on
Vogue magazine's website stated.
References in pop culture
Because of its iconic status, Gucci is frequently mentioned in popular culture. With the onset of "designer label" culture in
the mid to late 1970's, the earliest reference of Gucci in a pop song would be "He's The Greatest Dancer” by Nile Rodgers and
Bernard Edwards, 1979. It was performed by Sister Sledge, the "little sister" band of Rodgers & Edward's main band, Chic.
“...The champion of dance, his moves would put you in a trance, and he never leaves the disco alone... He wears the finest
clothes, the best designers, heaven knows, from his head down to his toes: Halston, Gucci, Fiorucci. He looks like a still, that
man is dressed to kill...”
In hip-hop music, where rappers often name-drop to brag about their lifestyles of luxury,[7] Gucci is frequently mentioned.[8] In 2003, Gucci was the third most mentioned
brand in Billboard top 20 singles, with appearances in 47 different songs.[8] Some critics claim that lyrical references to products are actually paid endorsements.[7])
Songs in which Gucci is mentioned include "Combination" by Aerosmith; "Add It Up" by The Kinks; "Gucci Time" By "Schooly D", "I Know What You Want" by Busta Rhymes and Mariah Carey; "Jigga That Nigga", "Oh My God", and
"Poppin' Tags" by Jay-Z; "Vapors" and "Groupie Luv" by Snoop
Dogg; "Why You Hurt Me" by Missy Elliott; "P.I.M.P." by 50 Cent; "Let's Get Down" by Bow
Wow; "Favorite Things" by Big Brovaz; "Hell Yeah" by Ginuwine; "Paranoid Android" by Radiohead; "The Fad" by Chevelle; "Still Fly" by Big Tymers;
Gucci has also been mentioned in the movies Alfie, Pretty Woman, Pret a Porter, Troop Beverly Hills, Spiceworld: The Movie,
Hannibal, The Wedding Planner,
Maid in Manhattan, Hitch,
Monster-in-Law, The Devil Wears
Prada and Epic Movie. But also in the Italian film I Mitici - Colpo
Gobbo a Milano. Gucci was also mentioned in the last season of Friends
in the episode The One With Princess Consuela. Gucci was mentioned
frequently in the first season of the TV series Ugly Betty.
Brands
Using the capital obtained from the PPR issue, the Group has steadily expanded beyond just the Gucci brand through a series of
takeovers. As of 2004, the Gucci Group maintained whole or partial interests in the following
companies or brands:
Trivia
Guinness World Records cites the Gucci "Genius Jeans" as the most
expensive jeans in the world. A normal pair of Gucci jeans that had been distressed, ripped and covered with African beads, when
they debuted in October 1998 in Milan, were priced at an astonishing US$3,134.[9]
Other uses
The word "Gucci" is commonly used in the British Army to refer to any item of impressive
non-issue kit bought to replace or complement the issued equipment. Typical use would be something like "Have you seen their
boots? Gucci Danners and Alt-Bergs all round!".[10]
See also
References
- ^ Gucci Group corporate history web pages, Retrieved on June 16
2007.
- ^ Promotion-type web page, Retrieved on June 16
2007.
- ^ BusinessWeek magazine ranking of Best Global Brands #46, Retrieved on June 16 2007.
- ^ Ibid.
- ^ [1]
- ^ Gucci
official page for its creative Director, Retrieved on June 16 2007.
- ^ a b Kiley, David. Hip Hop Two-Step Over Product Placement BusinessWeek Online, April 06, 2005, accessed January 5, 2007
- ^ a b
- ^ Yara, Susan, "The Most Expensive Jeans" Forbes magazine, November 30, 2005, Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
- ^ Retrieved on June 16, 2007.
External links
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
