The History of Gucci, From A Small Boutique Store in Florence, Italy To Becoming This Big

Founded in 1921, Gucci's journey in the fashion world has almost reached a century. Gucci is one of the fashion brands from Italy which is famous for its branded bag products. Who is not familiar with this global brand?

Success with products that have generated revenues that reach billions of USD, of course, is not something that is obtained instantly. The ups and downs of this international-class fashion business have been felt by the founder and developer of the Gucci brand. How's the full story? Check out a review of the history of Gucci in this article.

Finding Inspiration from Hotel Guest Suitcase Design

Did you know, the name of the Gucci brand is taken from the name of its first founder, namely Guccio Gucci. Even though he was already in his fourth head at that time, Guccio Gucci proved to the public that age was not an obstacle to success. Thanks to his work at the Savoy Hotel, London, since he was 19 years old, he claimed to get inspiration from hotel guests who brought luggage. The glamorous life of the hotel guests actually became the idea for Guccio Gucci to create his own design bag product. Armed with the ability to make suitcases and leather bags from his father, Guccio Gucci decided to resign from his job at the hotel and returned to Italy to build his business empire. Upon his return to his hometown, in 1905, Guccio Gucci tried to design a leather bag for the first time specially made for horsemen. Gucci's prediction was right, the merchandise was sold by nobles who were interested in Gucci's leather bag products. Since then, Gucci is increasingly confident to further expand its wings in the fashion business world. Leather bag products are not only popular among horse riders. At that time, leather bag products were also widely targeted, from ordinary people to top artists. Moreover, the small town called Florence is indeed famous for its skilled and reliable leather bag craftsmen. So this is one of the lucks for Gucci because it has experienced workers. Not only bag products, Gucci is also trying their luck in the clothing and accessories business such as leather belts.

Phenomenal Bamboo Bag

In 1921, Gucci with his passion for success began to build a small boutique in Florence. In the first two years, Gucci managed to attract the attention of the upper class with many artists who stopped by Gucci boutiques while visiting the city. It is even said that Gucci's boutique has become the center of luxury leather bags in the area. At that time, Gucci had set a high price for its leather bag products because it was made from genuine crocodile skin.

The Next Generation of Gucci

Guccio Gucci has three sons who contributed to the development of his fashion business. Together with Aldo Gucci, Vasco Gucci and Rodolfo Gucci, he expanded his business by adding several boutiques in Florence. Gucci boutiques have also started to expand outside the city, namely in Rome and Milan with a variety of leather products featuring bags, shoes and boots complete with ornate knitted clothes with signature patterns.

But during World War II, Gucci was forced to replace leather into canvas because of the material crisis at that time. To differentiate from leather products, Gucci uses a double “G” symbol on canvas products combined with prominent green and red bands.

Unfortunately, because Guccio Gucci at that time was getting old, he did not have time to take the business to the international scene because Guccio Gucci died in 1953. His business was continued by his children so that he was able to expand the company's horizons by setting up an office in New York City.

The Gucci brand is increasingly adapting to the international market because of the role of well-known film stars at that time who also showcased Gucci products. They appear in advertising media ranging from magazines to big city roadside billboards. Gucci finally expanded its business in the international arena, including Paris and London which are also one of its markets.

Family Discord

Who would have thought, a world-famous brand company called Gucci had experienced a family "drama" that made a bad reputation. The company ran smoothly until the 70s, but starting in 1980, the Gucci Group began to be plagued by family disputes that brought the company to the brink of collapse. After Rodolfo's death in 1983, his son Maurizio Gucci began taking over the company and fired his uncle, Aldo, who had to be sentenced to prison for tax evasion.

As predicted by Gucci officials at the time, Maurizio did not bring luck to the company and was instead seen as an unsuccessful president. He was under pressure from various parties to sell the company to Investcorp, a company in Bahrain. And finally in 1993, he was forced to sell all his remaining shares.

"Drama" does not stop there. Because in 1995, the public was excited by the killing of the third generation of Gucci in Milan. The suspect behind the fateful incident is his own wife, Patrizia Reggiani, who employs a hitman.

It's a tragedy that no one can imagine happening behind the success of Gucci as a luxury and elegant branded brand to date. Finally, in 1994, Gucci investors decided to promote Domenico De Sole, an American-educated family attorney, to the positions of president of Gucci America and Chief Executive.

Rebuilding Reputation

Before the Gucci company involved Domenico De Sole, in 1989 to be exact, Gucci recruited Dawn Mello who had the big task of restoring Gucci's reputation as an editor and designer. Aware of the company's bad image, Mello in 1990 hired Tom Ford, a well-known American fashion designer, as a ready-to-wear designer and was promoted to creative director in 1994.

By 1997, there were 76 Gucci stores worldwide along with a number of licensing agreements. Thanks to the collaboration of Ford and De Sole who took the decision to acquire the Gucci Group to Bottega Veneta, Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche, Sergio Rossi, Boucheron, and part ownership in Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Balenciaga, Gucci managed to slowly rise back to the surface.

Unfortunately, almost 60% of Gucci's share ownership was in the hands of a French collaborator, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute in 2003. Of course, this decision made Gucci's hometown seem to be forgotten. Right in 2004, Ford and De Sole stepped down from their positions and were replaced by young designers at that time who were promoted by the ranks of Gucci officials.

In 2005, a well-known fashion designer in Italy named Frida Giannini was appointed as the new creative director at Gucci specifically for women's clothing and accessories. Giannini made a breakthrough in women's bag design during his tenure as creative director.

He changed the stigma of Gucci design that had been developed from previous Gucci creators into a canvas bag with a monochrome and colorful style. Had received criticism from various parties, but it turned out that the brilliant idea of a Giannini was able to increase the company's turnover to make him promoted as creative director for all Gucci labels in 2006, including men's and children's fashion.

Many achievements that can be achieved by the Gucci company since the presence of Giannini. But unfortunately, the public considered that Gucci was too quick to depose Giannini in 2014 along with the presence of a new CEO named Marco Bizzarri. Even so, Gucci's career has remained stable and is even expected to shift the popularity of Louis Vuitton as the number 1 brand in the world.

Social Campaign

Actually, my friend, if we tell you further and in more detail, there are many controversies carried out by this famous brand like Gucci, so that it often gets netizens' criticism. But behind the phenomenal facts involving this Italian brand, Gucci has had a social partnership with UNICEF since 2005. Gucci has a special product where all the proceeds from the sale of the collection from all stores are donated to UNICEF to help neglected and suffering children. seriously ill.

Since then, Gucci has also engaged in campaigns that support education, health and protection programs for orphans and children affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Sahara Africa. In a span of 5 years, Gucci has donated more than $7 million to UNICEF. Fyi, for those of you who don't know about UNICEF, this is a foundation founded by Nelson Mandela that oversees the lives of orphans, especially those who are poor and affected by HIV/AIDS on the African continent.

To commemorate Gucci's journey for more than 90 years along with the stories behind it, the 1,715 square meter Gucci Museo or Gucci Museum was built in Florence as the birthplace of this global fashion brand. The Gucci Museum is located inside the Palazzo Della Mercanzia overlooking the Pizza della Signoria. In this museum, you can see a map of Gucci's journey from the time it was founded by Guccio Gucci to having to experience several changes in CEO and main director.

Until now, Gucci still occupies the ranks of the most coveted luxury fashion brand in the world. Gucci became one of the most expensive brands to reach a profit of US $ 9.45 billion or equivalent to Rp. 113.5 trillion.