GUCCI brand history free essay sample

1881 Guccio Gucci was born to a family of a straw-hat maker in Florence, Italy. As a teenager he was an immigrant in London. At the end of the 19th ad the beginning of the 20th centuries London attracted a lot of creative and progressive people because it was one of the biggest megacities with urban infrastucture, industrialization and population over one million. Gucci was impressed with the luxurious luggage he saw urbane guests bring with them. 1921 Guccio establishes his own store , that sells fine leather goods of high quality. This decision was supported by the following factors: distinguished materials and skilled artisans and favourable geographical location of Florence (historically, a lot of wealthy aristocratic families dwelled around Florence). Counting on the interest of the nobility in horse-ridding, Gucci started making his products with themes of horse ammunition, and the snaffle became the most recognized symbol of the incipient brand. Benito Mussolini, who came to power, assured: the new government will provide complete freedom of private enterprise and abandon intervention in the private sector [1] and it became a pushing point for private business. 1933 Aldo Gucci, now working for his father, designs the first incarnation of the iconic double-G Gucci logo, inspired by his father’s initials and shape of stirrups. At that time a design school Bauhaus, which combined the principles of modernism and functionalism, influenced many spheres of life. It was a starting point for commercial art and Cucci brand development. 1935 Italian dictator Mussolini orders the invasion of Ethiopia, leading the League of Nations to impose an international trade embargo on his country. Gucci was forced to branch out into other items: shoes, wallets, and belts. Leather supplies are short, so he begins making bags out of a specially woven Tuscan canapa, with a leather trim and printed with the double-G logo. To this day, the diamond-print Canapa bag remains one of the most instantly recognizable Gucci products. 1945 Gucci business survived during times of Word War II due to their inventive and foreseeing policy. At the end of World War II, Gucci’s folding Suiter bags (canapa sacks with a built-in clothes hanger) become popular with the British military officers occupying Rome. 1947 Gucci produces its first iconic bamboo-handled bag. After World War II , countries the world over were rationing resources. That was especially true in Europe, where artisans at Gucci were being pressured to find materials that weren’t subject to restriction to use in their designs. Bamboo cane could still be imported from Japan, and Gucci craftsman developed a patented method to heat and bend the bamboo in such a way that it would retain its shape once cooled and affixed to a handbag. 1949 After war international trade connections are increasing and Gucci represents its brand on European trade fairs. While on a trip to a London trade fair, he meets a Scottish tanner who will provide the brindled pigskin that will become another Gucci trademark. â€Å"The first spotted pigskin was actually a mistake,† fashion journalist Sara Gay Forden will later write.[2] 1952 Legions of wealthy American consumers were eager to spend their new income on status sybols. Gucci’s fine Florentine workmanship and equestrian details offered a taste of the exotic to the women who might only recently have traveled abroad for the first time. Aldo Gucci travels to New York with his brothers, they set up Guci Shops Inc., and open the first American store. The company enters the globalization process. 1953 Guccis founder Guccio Gucci dies and the company is split into three parts among his sons. Despite the conflict, this separation leads to brands further development. 1954 As Rome enters the Dolce Vita era of postwar prosperity (and the jet set descend on the city), Gucci builds a reputation as a favorite of European society. While starring in Roberto Rossellini’s Viaggio in Italia (Journey to Italy), out this year, a young Ingrid Bergman can be seen carrying a bamboo-handled Gucci umbrella and bag. This can be considered one of the first cases of  «product placement » for Gucci. The Gucci house crest becomes a registered trademark. 1960  «La dolce vita  » by Federico Fellini, was hailed as one of the most widely seen and acclaimed European movies of the 1960s.It was nominated for four Academy Awards. This event attracted more public attention to Italian fashion 1962 The New York Times declares Gucci’s bamboo-handled bag as the  «new fashion status symbol »[3]. 1966 Pop culture of 60s finds reflection in Gucci designs. With the help of painter Vittorio Accornero, Rodolfo designs Gucci’s famous Flora silk print scarf for Princess Grace of Monaco, collaborating features of Hippie culture with the demands of upper-class clients. 1967 Aldos son, Paolo designs Gucci’s first ready-to-wear looks in conjunction with a new line of suitcases. 1968 The original Gucci loafer was updated by a destinctive snuffle-bit ornament,and were beeing sold at $35. The shoes became an affordable status symbol, particularly among young female professionals. It was successful marketing step for wide spreading of Guccis trend in public. 1969 Gucci presents its first full ready-to-wear-collection at Rome’s Alta Moda fashion week. 1970 Disco culture gains popularity and affects public lifestyle. Disco clubs and parties dictate their new fashion rules.Gucci expands its ready-to-wear collection to eveningwear. Some fabrics—such as the glittering brown velvet of one minidress—have Gs worked right into them. 1975 Gucci No. 1, the brand’s first scent, debuts- another marketing step to populiarize the the brand. 1985 Due to reduction of brand prestige, the company aim to streamline the production, which is now burdened with a dizzying number of products and licensing agreements. â€Å"We’ve gone from 10,000 handbags a year to something like 700,000.†[4] 1988 The Gucci family sells its estimated 48.7 percent share in Guccio Gucci SpA to Bahrain-based investment bank Investcorp. Maurizio, who retains his 50 percent share, stays on as chairman and primary shareholder. 1990 Tom Ford appeared in the Gucci house, designing menswear, as well as shoes and handbags. 1994 Tom Ford is named a creative director. 1995 Pop culture of 90s tends to bring sexusal and vain images to clothing. Tom Ford has an amazing premonition of lifestyle changings and creates his fall/winter 1995 collection which wins raves from critics for its cool, sexed-up take on 1960s mod—an aesthetic that harks back to Gucci’s salad days. Madonna was weraing one of the Fords silk blouses and velvet hip-huggers MTV Music Awards.Someone asked Madonna on camera what she was wearing and she said:  «Gucci, Gucci, Gucci »[5]. It was a turning point in the Gucci history, the brand became successful after the years of oblivion thanks to Toms talent. 1996 Bernard Arnault’s luxury conglomerate, LVMH, makes a bid to take over Gucci Group. Ford forms a strategic alliance with French holding company Pinault-Printemps-Redoute (PPR). 2003 PPR buys a controlling stake in Gucci Group. 2004 Ford shows his final collection for Gucci. A reviewer calls it  «a fabulous farewell  » [6], PPR announces that men’s and women’s collections will now be designed by a team of three former design assistants—Alessandra Facchinetti for womenswear, John Ray for menswear, and Frida Giannini for accessories. Gucci stores in the United States break their own one-day sales record, pulling in nearly $4 million in a single day. 2005 Weeks after her second show, Alessandra Facchinetti, who stayed close to the Ford look, resigns. Partly as reward for the success of her line of floral accessories done up in the Flora motif Gucci had designed for Princess Grace in the 1960s, Frida Giannini promoted to creative director for women’s ready-to-wear. September: Giannini shows her first collection in Milan. Her feminine silhouettes and colorful prints strike a noticeable contrast to Ford’s sleek, monochrome aesthetic. 2006 Gianni adds another title, creative director of menswear. 2009 The Jackie bag relaunched yet again, this time as the New Jackie. 2011 Gucci opens its own museum inside Florence’s Palazzo della Mercanzia, only steps from the Galleria dell’Accademia, which houses Michelangelo’s David.