A Brief History of Gucci
Guccio Gucci, the son of a craftsman, was born in 1881 and founded the House of Gucci as a saddlery shop in Florence at the age of 25. Guccio started out selling leather bags to horsemen in the 1920's and progressed to luxury luggage as his clients graduated from equine transportation to horseless carriages. It only took a few years for the company to see success and it has continued to flourish over the years, even during hard times, due to its superior quality and conscientious work. In 1938 Guccio Gucci opened his first retail shop on the Via Condotti in Rome.
In the early days of the House of Gucci, Guccio built a reputation for quality, hiring the best craftsmen he could find to work in his atelier. By the time his retail shop opended, Guccio was responsible for designing many of the company's most notable products. In 1947, Gucci introduced a bamboo handle handbag.
The brand name became very popular in Europe after opening several firm shops. In 1953, the first shop was opened in New York. With this new retail store in America, Gucci launched several new lines of accessories, including neck wear, watches, and perfumes. It was around this time that Guccio developed the characteristic striped webbing, derived from the saddle girth.
Gucci remained one of the premier luxury brands until the 1970's, when a series of disastrous business decisions brought the company to the verge of bankruptcy. Aldo and Rodolfo controlled equal shares in the company, each overseeing development in different division. In 1979, Aldo developed the Gucci Accessories Collection, or GAC, intended to bolster the sales for the Gucci Parfums sector, which his sons controlled. This was done in an attempt to weaken brother Rodolfo's control of the overall operations of the company.
Rodolfo passed away in 1983, leaving his 50% ownership to son Maurizio, who allied with his causing Paolo (Aldo's son) to seize control over the board of directors. The rest of the family eventually left the company and, for the first time in years, one man controlling direction for the family business. 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.
Since that time, Gucci focused on trading up in ultrafine leather projects. Even though the signature canvas bags are still the brand base, leather goods again account for 30 percent of company revenues. Gucci reinvented itself in the 1990's as a cutting-edge fashion house, and went public in 1995 at $22 per share.
In November 1997, 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.
