Gucci is an italian fashion and leather goods brand and it is part of the Gucci Group (company owned by the French holding company Kering).
Gucci was founded byGuccio Gucci in Florence in 1921. It generated €4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 according toBusinessWeek and climbed to 41st position in the magazine’s annual 2009 “Top Global 100 Brands” chart created byInterbrand. Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand.
This luxury brand has about 278 directly operated stores worldwide and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores. In the year 2013, the brand was valued at US$12.1 billion, with sales of US$4.7 billion. In the Forbes World’s Most Valuable Brands list, Gucci is ranked the 38th most valuable brand, with a brand value of $12.4 billion as of May 2015 As of January 2015, the creative director is Alessandro Michele.
History
With beginnings at the end of the 19th century, the Gucci company became one of the world’s most successful manufacturers of high-end leather goods, clothing, and other fashion products. As an immigrant hotel worker in Paris and later London, young Guccio Gucci (1881–1953) was impressed with the luxurious luggage he saw urbane guests bring with them. Before leaving, he visited the manufacturer, H.J. Cave & Sons. Upon returning to his birthplace of Florence, a city distinguished for high-quality materials and skilled artisans, he established a shop in 1920 that sold fine leather goods with classic styling. Although Gucci organized his workrooms for industrial methods of production, he maintained traditional aspects of fabrication. Initially, Gucci employed skilled workers in basic Florentine leather crafts, attentive to finishing. With expansion, machine stitching was a production method that supported construction.
Together with three of his sons, Aldo Gucci (1905-1990), Vasco Gucci (1907–1975), and Rodolfo Gucci (1912–1983), Gucci expanded the company to include stores in Milan and Rome as well as additional shops in Florence. Gucci’s stores featured such finely crafted leather accessories as handbags, shoes, and his iconic ornamentedloafer as well as silks and knitwear in a signature pattern.
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. After the war, the Gucci crest, which showed a shield and armored knight surrounded by a ribbon inscribed with the family name, became synonymous with the city of Florence.
Aldo and Rodolfo Gucci further expanded the company’s horizons in 1953 by establishing offices in New York City. Film stars and jet-set travelers to Italy during the 1950s and 1960s brought their glamour to Florence, turning Gucci’s merchandise into international status symbols. Movie stars posed in Gucci’s clothing, accessories, and footwear for lifestyle magazines around the world, contributing to the company’s growing reputation.
Gucci’s distinctive lines made its products among the most frequently copied in the world in the early 2000s. Pigskin, calf, and imported exotic animal skins were subjected to various methods of fabrication. Waterproof canvas and satin were used for evening bags. Bamboo was first used to make handbag handles by a process of heating and molding in 1947, and purses made with a shoulder strap and snaffle-bit decoration were introduced in 1960. In 1964 Gucci’s lush butterfly pattern was custom-created for silk foulards, followed by equally luxuriant floral patterns. The original Gucci loafer was updated by a distinctive snaffle-bit ornament in 1966, while the “Rolls-Royce” luggage set was introduced in 1970.
Watches, jewelry, ties, and eyewear were then added to the company’s product lines. A particularly iconic touch, introduced in 1964, was the use of the double-G logo for belt buckles and other accessory decorations.
The company prospered through the 1970s, but the 1980s were marked by internal family disputes that brought Gucci to the brink of disaster. Rodolfo’s son Maurizio Gucci took over the company’s direction after his father’s death in 1983, and dismissed his uncle Aldo—who eventually served a prison term for tax evasion. Maurizio proved to be an unsuccessful president; he was compelled to sell the family-owned company to Investcorp, a Bahrain-based company, in 1988.
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Maurizio disposed of his remaining stock in 1993. Tragically, Maurizio was murdered in Milan in 1995, and his former wife, Patrizia Reggiani, was convicted of hiring his killers. Meanwhile, the new investors promoted the American-educated Domenico De Sole from the position of family attorney to president of Gucci America in 1994 and chief executive in 1995.
The company had previously brought in Dawn Mello in 1989 as editor and ready-to-wear designer in order to reestablish its reputation. Well aware of Gucci’s tarnished image and the value of its name brand, Mello hired Tom Ford in 1990 to design a ready-to-wear line. He was promoted to the position of creative director in 1994. Before Mello returned to her post as president of the American retailer Bergdorf Goodman, she initiated the return of Gucci’s headquarters from the business center of Milan to Florence, where its craft traditions were rooted. There she and Ford reduced the number of Gucci products from twenty thousand to five thousand.
There were seventy-six Gucci stores around the world in 1997, along with numerous licensing agreements. Ford was instrumental in the process of decision-making with De Sole when the Gucci Group acquired Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Sergio Rossi, and, in part-ownership with Stella McCartney,Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga. By 2001 Ford and De Sole shared the responsibility for major business decisions, while Ford concurrently directed design at Yves Saint Laurent as well as at Gucci.
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The French conglomerate Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, however, gained ownership of 60 percent of the Gucci Group’s stock in 2003. Women’s Wear Daily then announced the departure of both Domenico De Sole and Tom Ford from the Gucci Group when their contracts expired in April 2004. The last spring collection under the direction of Ford and De Sole was a critical and commercial success. Amid widespread speculation in the fashion press about Ford’s heir, the company announced in March 2004 that he would be replaced by a team of younger designers promoted from the ranks of the company’s staff.[17]
In 2005, Frida Giannini was appointed as the creative director for women’s ready-to-wear and accessories, previously joining Gucci in 2002. In 2006, she also became the creative director for men’s ready-to-wear and the entire Gucci label.
As announced in December 12, 2014, Creative Director Frida Giannini and CEO Patrizio di Marco were to step down from Gucci. Marco Bizzarri was appointed CEO of the brand.
In January 2015, Alessandro Michele was appointed Creative Director of Gucci. He is responsible for all of the brand’s collections and global image. Born in Rome in 1972, Alessandro studied at the prestigious Academy of Costume & Fashion in Rome. He forged his early design career inside Fendi where he was Senior Accessories Designer. A rising talent, he was tapped by Tom Ford in 2002 and moved to Gucci’s London-based Design Office. Over his 12-year tenure inside the Gucci design studio, Alessandro held a variety of roles. In 2006 he was named Leather Goods Design Director and promoted in May 2011 as Associate to then Creative Director Frida Giannini.
Products by Gucii
Gucci has a great amount of products and their site is a hole new world for anyone! You can find everything. For each category we are going to show an example of that product.
Handbags
Dionysus GG Supreme Embroidered Bag
GG Supreme Tote
An option for her and for him: Arielle Leather Knee Boot-leather and perforated lace-up shoe
Belt with studded interlocking G buckle
Hat-Striped Wool Knit Hat and Gucci ring
GG supreme canvas four wheel carry-on suitcasepet and small dog bag
Wool trench coat
Round frame acetate sunglasses and bamboo flower print silk scarf
Plastic iPhone 6 case Soho leather coin purse
Interlocking large 18kt pink gold and PVD watch with crocodile strap and GG Supreme Wallet
Products by Gucci are endless, besides the clothes and accesories area they also have collaborations all over the world. One that is worth sharing is the Gucci Fiat 500:
Two color schemes are available: black with bright chrome details, and white with satin-finish chrome, both circumscribed by Gucci’s trademark green and red stripes below the window line. Lacey 16-inch wheels with color-coordinated insets feature Gucci’s interlocking-G logo on the center caps, while the B-pillar and liftgate are embellished with the word “Gucci” in a sassy cursive font.
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Inside, the black leather seats with white “Guccissima” inserts are bisected by the Gucci stripe, which also appears on the seat belts, shifter, key fob, and carpets. And if that’s not enough, customers may further stuff the interior with a full line of “500 by Gucci” travel accessories, as well as a suitcase full of other goods, including track suits, driving gloves, bomber jackets, sunglasses, and, of course, a watch.
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Sources: wikipedia, img0.gtsstatic.com, 9dadesasolta.com, fastlifeluxury.com, cdni.condenast.co.uk, media2.popsugar-assets.com, takemeto.eu, 25.media.tumblr.com, images.boomsbeat.com, vogue.com, blogcdn.com, fabfashionfix.com
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