A turnaround of the company devised in the late 1980s made Gucci one of the world's major fashion houses and a highly profitable business operation.
In October of 95 Gucci decided went public and had its first public offering on AEX and NYSE for $22 per share. November of 1997 also proved to be a succesful year as Gucci acquired a watch licensee, Severin-Montres, and renamed it Gucci Timepieces. Gucci watches became some of the most beautiful and most sought after timepieces in the world.
The Gucci brand is considered one of the most frequently mentioned brands. 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.
Like many other high fashion companies, Gucci began as a small, family-owned saddlery and leather goods company. Guccio Gucci was the son of an Italian merchant from the country’s north. 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 a bamboo handle handbag. In the 50s, Gucci also developed the trademark striped webbing, derived from the saddle girth, and the suede moccasin with a metal bit.
Guccio and his wife Aida Calvelli had a large family, six children in all, though only his sons 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 infighting. Disputes regarding inheritances, stock holdings, and day to day operations of stores divided the family and led to alliances.
The 1960’s brought increased fame to the Gucci Empire. Such Hollywood stars as Grace Kelly, Peter Sellers and Audrey Hepburn made the name Gucci synonymous with chic. Jackie Kennedy helped by being photographed with a Gucci shoulder bag, which subsequently became known as the “Jackie O”. The company adopts the “GG” logo.
Gucci remained some of
the major premier luxury goods establishments in the world until the late 1970s,
when a series of disastrous business decisions and family quarrels brought the
company into the verge of bankruptcy. At the time, brothers Aldo and Rodolfo controlled
50% shares of the company, though Aldo felt his brother contributed less to the
company than he and his sons did. In 1979, Aldo developed a 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 operations of the company.
Though Gucci Accessories Collection was well received, it proved to be adestabilizing force bringing the Gucci dynasty 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 US alone with the GAC line, deteriorating the brand’s standing with fashionable customers.
It didn’t take long before counterfeiters ravaged the company’s image by flooding the market with cheap fakes, further tarnishing the Gucci name. Meanwhile, infighting was taking a toll on operations. 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 US by 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 a Gucci Licensing division in Holland for tax. 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.
In 1999 Gucci bought up Yves St Laurent.
Alessandra Facchinetti has a recentely been a key designer of the company.
In 2003 Plaid Cymru proposed a tax on people who buy luxury items like sports cars and Gucci designer clothes so that they should pay almost double the rate of VAT.
Carmen Kass a model has been used to advertise Gucci.
A Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Event Honoring a former Gucci designer Ford was attended by major acting celebrities such as Hanks & Val Kilmer.
The Guinness
World Records book 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 $3,134.
The BBC website describes two of the the lead characters
in Absolutely Fabulous as two "Bolly swigging, Gucc hugging heroines"
of the BBC TV series Absolutely Fabulous.
2003 oscar winner Charlize Theron turned up for the 2004 ceremony in a Gucci.
All of these products provide free advertising as the patrons proudly display the elite Gucci labels. The next time you watch Mel Brooks’comedy classic film “Blazing Saddles”, watch when the new sheriff rides into town.
In 2002 Niall Quinn launched
a surprise attack on the celebrity image surrounding the England World Cup squad.
As Quinn prepared to give away the entire £1million proceeds from his
testimonial, the highly respected Sunderland striker slammed the 'Gucci and Sushi'
culture of his fellow internationals. He said "how they can get into the
sort of lifestyle that sees the England team attend a Gucci and Sushi party before
they depart for the World Cup finals."
In 2005 Five world famous luxury
brands sued a popular Beijing shopping market accusing it of selling fake goods.
Including Burberry & Gucci.
in 2006 The UK's Prime Minister, Tony Blair, had become embroiled in a dispute over a politician's apparent endorsement of counterfeiting.
Ruth Orchard, director-general of the Anti Counterfeiting
Group, wrote to Blair after a Labour MP, Kate Hoey, joked that she wore a fake
Gucci watch.
In 2005 the guardian described the srtuggle between the
left and right in the French socialist party as a stuggle between Sartorially
speaking, France's Socialists are a mixed bag: canvas shorts and ageing deckshoes
mingle with pristine polos and Gucci loafers; Issey Miyake miniskirts and Prada
pumps with torn T-shirts and espadrilles.
In 2005 The daughter-in-law
of the former Labour leader Neil Kinnock was elected leader of Denmark’s
Social Democrat party. Ms Thorning-Schmidt, 38, nicknamed "Gucci Helle"
for her expensive, elegant dressing style, was elected to the Danish 179-seat
parliament in February. She sat in the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004.
Once former spice girl and model Geri Halliwell was late for a charity show hosted by Cherie Blair and as an apology presented Mrs Blair with a suede Gucci handbag to apologise for her lateness.
Stella MacCartney caused controversy
with Gucci when she admitted in 2005 that the clothes being sold in H&M were
'pretty much the same' as the ones in her signature collection in Gucci, effectively
causing Gucci to be undercut by their own designer
birthplace of Australian PMs
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An Index of web pages on the subject of shares, stocks, FOREX and Finance.
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