How an homeless Orphan Boy Created Gucci and turned it into a Billion-Dollar Empire

even if we don't know about fashion most of us know about Gucci this brand is one of the biggest names in the fashion industry did you know that guccio Gucci the founder of the company started at the age of 40 in 1921 after 101 years of its existence now its valuation is approximately 18.1 billion US dollars what did guccio Gucci do to make his company so big keep watching to find the answers the beginning it was Saturday March 26 1881 when a boy was born in the Tuscan Leather making family of Florence Italy this boy was guccio Gucci who was about to bring Revolution to the world's fashion industry as a teenager guccio grew up helping his father make leather bags but he didn't want to take up his father's traditional leather making business the young lad wanted to do something different and it was the urge of guccio to do something different that took him to different parts of the world he began to travel to Great cities of Europe such as London and Paris and in search of a suitable job but that was not easy guccio had to take up different kinds of jobs such as a waiter a dishwasher or even a concierge in 1899 as an 18 year old teenager he started working as a lift attendant in the prestigious Savoy Hotel of London the luxurious hotel has many wealthy patrons Gucci observed their style and elegance but most importantly their bags growing up in a family of leather makers guccio knew the patients and craftsmanship required to produce a good leather bag here in the Savoy Hotel he decided that someday he will go back to his hometown and also make beautiful leather products while working in the hotel a beautiful 24 year old dressmaker's daughter Aida calvelli stole the heart of 20 year old guccio the love between them blossomed with time and after a few months of dating the couple got married in 1901 and he also decided to adopt Yugo calvelli as a stepson he was the son of Ida calvelli from her former relationship after leaving his life in London life for Gucci followed its usual course for another 20 years and he had four children three sons and a daughter during that time who will take over his company it was after these 20 years his life took a sharp turn when Gucci decided to come back to his hometown by now he had a pretty good idea of what he wanted to do following his Father's Footsteps with a plan to provide quality products at a fair price he set foot in the leather industry and started his first store in 1921 in Florence the rise the first Gucci store opened in Florence in 1921 and it is from here the guccio Gucci and his company's legendary history began at the starting phase the products were mostly for Horsemen such as Saddles leather bags and other accessories but in 1932 Gucci created the first loafers with the Gilded snaffle which was not a success after three years in 1935 Gucci tried alternative versions to make bags from imported leather and other materials as a result of a League of Nations embargo against Italy and this side idea was a success and from there guccio Gucci made the first successful suitcases for years Gucci's business thrived during that time they kept working on new ideas this was a thing that made them different products from their competitors after years of successful business Gucci expanded his business to a second location in Rome in 1938 at the proposal of his son Aldo Aldo had plans for expansion because the company was getting famous and he knew if they expanded in more locations they would be able to capture more market share from this point onwards guccio's one-man operation became a family business and during the 50s Gucci was continuously opening new shops throughout the country in the year 1953 guccio Gucci opened the first Gucci store overseas it was opened at the Savoy Plaza Hotel in New York City as a tribute to his time as a porter guccio died 14 days after opening the first overseas store during his final days Gucci oguchi was living in rusper England now all the business was handled by his sons in the Years following Gucci's Death the brand continued to see success thanks to his sons in 1953 Aldo the oldest of the sons took control of the business although internationalized the brand he knew that people didn't necessarily want to travel to Italy to buy their products preferring instead to purchase them in New York Paris Tokyo or London looking at this opportunity he made plans to expand the business all over the world this kind of Rapid expansion would sink some companies but Gucci thrived President John F Kennedy referred to Aldo Gucci as the first ambassador of fashion guccio boutiques began to pop up all over in the Glamorous Gigi symbol which is still used today was invented in the 1960s now the Gucci business was internationalized they were continuously opening new stores around the world their Market was booming and new products were launching everything was perfect until this time all three brothers had 33.3 shares in the company but when Aldo's brother Vasco Gucci died childless in 1974 Aldo and his older brother Rodolfo split the company 50 50. apart from this Aldo divided 3.3 percent of his estate among his three sons leaving him with 40 while his brother retained 50 percent the shared distribution was about to start a Family Feud Family Feud in the 80s by the early 1980s guccio's grandkids also started to work at the company and the family was feuding over who would be in charge Paulo Aldo's son dreamed of starting his own fashion line when his father and Uncle refused to launch it he went behind their backs and did it anyway they fired him and severed all ties with him and this step taken by his uncle and father made him Furious as a result Palo had his Revenge by exposing his father Aldo's tax evasion for which Aldo was sent to federal prison for years when Rodolfo Aldo's brother died in 1983 his half stake in the company was passed to his only son Maurizio who joined forces with Paulo to take control of the company however this partnership didn't last long and the cousins turned on each other and when Maurizio got into trouble with the authorities over tax issues he was forced to flee to Switzerland Paulo was once more responsible for informing the authorities after this incident months of Court battles were fought between Paulo and Maurizio's lawyers in the end both cousins got what they wanted but with disastrous results Paolo eventually launched his fashion line which was enormously unsuccessful Maurizio almost destroyed the Gucci Empire in his tenure at the helm through the late 80s during this Feud the company suffered massive losses so Mauricio decided to sell Stakes of the company investcore beholding company purchased nearly half of Gucci shares in 1989. during that time Gucci had a negative net worth of 17.3 million dollars with more than 40 million dollars in personal debt under Maurizio the company was in a bad State now Gucci needed real transformation so board members on Gucci hired Don Mello famous designer as Gucci's Executive Vice President and chief designer she reduced the number of stores from over a thousand to 180 in a move to rebuild the Brand's exclusivity she also reduced the number of items sold by Gucci from 22 000 to 7 000 and revived the most famous brand designs from the 50s this move turned out to be brilliant and products were starting to sell but Don mellow wanted to make sure that she could save the company from bankruptcy so she decided to start a clothing line for women as a result in 1990. she hired a brilliant young designer named Tom Ford to oversee the woman's ready to wear collection together they revived many popular designs and as a result Gucci was back in business later Tom Ford was appointed as creative director during that time Maurizio Gucci sold the remainder of his shares to invest Corp and this was the official end of the Gucci family in October 1995 the company was publicly indexed on the New York Stock Exchange as of 2018 Gucci operated 540 stores for 14 628 employees The company generated 9.628 billion euros in Revenue 8.2 billion euros in 2018 and 3947 billion euros in profits 3.2 billion euros in 2018. thanks for watching the video comment down below your favorite part and let us know also press the Subscribe button and Bell icon for regular updates

Channel: The Loopstory

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Keywords: House of Gucci story, Gucci family story, story of guccio gucci, story of gucci, guccio gucci, house of gucci, gucci, the rise and fall of gucci, who invented gucci, gucci family, gucci story, gucci founder, how gucci is made, history of gucci, gucci documentary, gucci history, history of gucci brand, the rise of gucci, business stories, the fall of gucci, how gucci was made

Id: nAWyryhRS8o

Length: 8min 33sec (513 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 28 2022