Gucci almost went bankrupt. Then a hitman saved them.

[Music] gucci is crowned the world's hottest brand throughout its 100 year history it's been worn by royals first ladies and celebrities today it's no longer exclusively for the elite and remains the ultimate status symbol and it all started with a dishwasher waiter and bell hub on march 26 1881 guccio gucci was born in florence italy his parents were humble merchants who made straw hats and expected guccio to take over but by the time he turned 17 the business went bankrupt and the family fell apart driven out of his house by his father guccio hopped on a freighter to england once he arrived one of london's most lavish hotels the savoy took him in there he worked as a dishwasher waiter bellhop and later an elevator attendant the job was considered a big deal since the hotel was the first in the world to have an electric elevator and it gave guccio the rare opportunity to observe its wealthy and famous guests up close he noticed that all of them traveled with elegant handbags and luggage that were more than just functional items they were status symbols he also learned that they were obsessed with the idea of quality and cared very little about the cost after a few years guccio saved enough money to return to florence and start a new life he worked for an antique store married a dressmaker named ida cavelli and started a family but when the first world war broke out guccio was forced to leave home again and serve in the army fortunately he survived and returned to florence when the war ended the city's economy was destroyed but guccio found work at a company that specialized in quality leather products the owner taught guccio the basics of the trade including how to work with different types of leather guccio learned quickly and was asked to open a new store in rome as their manager ida refused to leave florence so gucci had no choice but to travel back and forth each time that he returned home he longed to open his own shop in florence more and more one sunday guccio and ida went for a stroll around florence while walking by a narrow side street they spotted a small shop for rent ida encouraged guccio to take over and pursue his dream of opening up a shop in the city with her blessing guccio didn't hesitate and pulled their savings and alone from an acquaintance he called this shop validuria guccio gucci but later shortened it to gucci the shop offered leather handbags and luggage that guccio hand-picked from suppliers in tuscany germany and england more often than not guccio found himself having to commission unique pieces his experience at the savoy gave him a knack for sensing what wealthy tourists were likely to buy and his suppliers fell short of offering them eventually he grew tired of relying on his suppliers and opened a workshop to make and repair his own products while they became popular among wealthy tourists and the local elite guccio was struggling in secret his family and staff only discovered the truth after he could not hide his tears any longer he looked like a man facing a death sentence one of them recalled like many entrepreneurs guccio struggled to turn a profit within the first few years of opening suppliers who let him buy goods on credit were demanding payment and some clients did not pay what they owed guccio was strapped for cash to pay for his bills and had no choice but to give into what he had feared most unless a miracle happens i can't stay open another day guccio admitted to his family and staff guccio's future son-in-law could not bear to see him in pain as though he was facing a death sentence so he offered to give him a loan from the savings he put aside to marry his daughter grimalda guccio humbly accepted within the next few months he was able to pay back the loan in full and hire a team of artisans each one was responsible for completing a product on their own from start to finish sometimes the process involved putting together 100 different pieces and took an average of 10 hours as guccio's business and team grew italy's leadership changed several nations imposed harsh sanctions on the country and guccio could no longer buy all the leather he needed to save his shop from closing a second time he took a chance on making new products first he made handbags and luggage with both canvas and leather leather was only applied to the most used parts of the products the corners clasps and straps later he expanded his product line with accessories including belts wallets and shoes his loafer was the first in the world to have a gilded snaffle meanwhile one of guccio's sons aldo was thinking bigger he had traveled all over europe and discovered many were interested in his family's products why not bring gucci to them he thought to himself when he brought up the idea of expanding to other cities guccio shot him down he believed it was too risky and doubted they could come up with the money aldo remained convinced that it was a great opportunity and secretly asked their bank for a loan guccio eventually caved in and opened a second shop in rome it turned out to be the family savior when the second world war broke out and rome became an open city soldiers swarmed the shop to buy anything that they could send to their mothers wives or girlfriends back home when the war ended guccio scrambled to get loans from several banks to keep both shops open and while he remained short on supplies his team continued to make new and more unique products with what they had including bamboo handled in pigskin bags by the early 1950s guccio ran a third shop in milan meanwhile his sons aldo rodolfo and vasco were far from home they secretly flew to new york to find a location for their first american store with a six thousand dollar bank loan in their pocket they settled on a small shop just off of fifth avenue when guccio found out through a telegram he was furious come home immediately you crazy boys he cabled back to him their plans were nothing more than a reckless scheme but once again he caved in unbeknownst to his sons it would become one of the last things that he could do for them one year later guccio's first american shop opened in new york it made history as one of the first italian labels to have its own store in the city and was known as one of the most exclusive labels in europe royals and celebrities worldwide were fans including queen elizabeth ii princess grace of monaco jackie kennedy sophia lauren elizabeth taylor and katherine hepburn it was clear that new york was just the beginning of a worldwide expansion and that the gucci family had much to celebrate but two weeks after opening their store celebrations came to a halt guccio dropped dead from a heart attack as he prepared to go to the cinema with ida in his will he left gucci in the hands of aldo rodolfo and vasco gormalda whose husband once saved the company from closing was given nothing she tried to fight her brothers for a share of the company in court but returned home empty-handed afterwards business continued as usual aldo focused on expanding gucci abroad rodolfo managed its store in milan and vasco ran its factory in florence meanwhile gucci's reputation was growing among the elite and it was all thanks to a product that aldo once snubbed and many called bizarre loafers when gucci released them in new york stiletto heels were all the rage but soon after woman caught on to the comfort and chic-ness that loafers offered eventually gucci's loafers became a must-have among men as well in fact frank sinatra was known to have a large collection over the next few years gucci continued to make its mark by opening dozens of stores worldwide and expanding into clothes perfumes and watches it became widely known as a status symbol and unseemingly untouchable until history repeated itself two years after gucci launched perfumes and watches vasco passed away from cancer he had no children so his stake in gucci was given to his widow maria aldo and rodolfo bought her out and split the shares 50 50. later aldo split 10 of his shares with his sons giorgio paulo and roberto meanwhile rodolfo refused to give a single share to his only son maurizio while collectively the suns had a small stake in the company it was inevitable that they would have to step up gucci's business had increased 25 times over the previous decade still jar joe apollo and maurizio strayed from their commitments and even rebelled giorgio secretly opened his own shop using the family name paulo started his own label and outed his father for tax evasion and after rodolfo passed away maurizio was handed half of the company and kicked aldo out from then on maurizio became hungry for even more power he was convinced that the only way that that was possible was if he bought his family out but he didn't have enough money and would need to find an investor bankers were intrigued by the idea but were skeptical that a deal would be possible because of all the family feuds fortunately one private investment firm invest corps was crazy enough to take the risk they were hardly known in the financial world but had made a fortune by saving and taking tiffany and co public two years after a deal was signed maurizio successfully bought his family out but under his leadership gucci's glory days were gone and the company started losing 30 million dollars a year invest corp agreed to save the company under one condition maurizio had to leave maurizio fought back but eventually walked away two years later his body was found slumped outside his office in milan his ex-wife patricia retchiani hired a hitman to murder him carrying on guccio's legacy was now left to invest corp and its new creative director tom ford tom replaced gucci's grunge look with glamour and soon after hollywood went gucci from then on he created must-have pieces every season his bold designs led to gucci reaching record profits of more than one billion dollars a year and two successful ipos today gucci is worth over 17 billion dollars and crown the world's hottest and fastest growing luxury brand it's also favored amongst millennials and teens thanks in part to bringing in an outsider this is the story of how a dishwasher built a billion dollar luxury brand that survived a series of war bankruptcy and family feuds if you're interested in watching a part two on the outsider who made gucci even more popular like and subscribe to our channel

Channel: Hook

Views: 1,813,810

Rating: 4.9286933 out of 5

Keywords: story of gucci, gucci, gucci story, gucci founder, how gucci is made, how gucci was made, the rise of gucci, the rise and fall of gucci, the fall of gucci, the rise and fall, the rise of, rise of gucci, how gucci started, how gucci made, who made gucci, why gucci is so expensive, why gucci is expensive, why gucci is popular, gucci shoes, gucci loafers, gucci hitman, who invented gucci, gucci inventor

Id: zSa8vhUrIr0

Length: 11min 12sec (672 seconds)

Published: Sat Feb 27 2021