The Italian fashion design house of Gucci started back in Florence, Italy in the year 1921 by a man named Guccio Gucci. When he first opened his small, family-owned saddle and leather goods store, he was completely unaware that the Gucci handbag would in time grow to become one of the most recognized symbols for luxury and wealth.
The History of Italian Fashion in the Making
In its initial phases, Gucci's work was recognized for its craftsmanship as well as its quality. He employed skilled craftsmen that would work with him and as a team they would build a very successful leather goods company. It was back in 1938 that they opened a boutique in Rome and their business just kept growing. Gucci, himself, was the creator for most of their products and in the year 1947 he introduced the bamboo handled Gucci handbag that has steadily become a company icon.
In addition to the Gucci handbag, the company is renowned for its family disagreements, differences of opinion as well as disputes when it comes to the operations of the company. The conflicts within the family over stock holdings, inheritances, business operations as well as other family issues have very often threatened the overall success of this family oriented business.
The Pinnacle of Success
Even in the face of the family disputes threatening the success of the company, back in the 1960s the Gucci logo GG, which were the initials of Guiccio Gucci's were supported by many famous women of the time, such as Grace Kelly and Jackie Kennedy, the wife of the president of the United States, John F. Kennedy. Through support from societies elite figures such as these increased the popularity of the Gucci handbag as well as other Gucci products.
The company continued to stay at the top of the establishments of the design houses until the late 1970s when the quarrels of the family again threatened the survival of the company. Soon after the members of the family had the departments divided within the company between them and started to work independent from one another.
Through numerous disastrous business practices as well as mismanagement, the popularity as well as the respect of the company declined within the fashion industry in the decade of the 1980s. It was at this time that they also became the highest production knock offs on the counterfeit market. This reality caused even further decline in high fashion industry.
The Turning Point for the Gucci Handbag
Back in the decade of the 1980s the company again went through a period of confusion, turmoil and reorganization. It was this reorganization that ended up saving the company as well as elevating it back to its earlier standings within the fashion industry. Through the work of a gentleman named Tom Ford, a young fashion designer, Gucci again was returned to a respectable high fashion design house within the fashion industry.
Today, the Gucci handbag is still a highly sought after fashion accessory and used as a status symbol. The organization may never reach the same heights of status that it held back in the decade of the 1960s however it still enjoys a very popular standing in the world of celebrity, wealth as well as high fashion.
By Korbin Newlyn
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