Shoe Designer Christian Louboutin Is Now A Billionaire

in the world of fashion a beacon of light shines from the soles of stilettos and Boots adorned with red bottoms those pretty shoes which started about $800 a pair and can quickly reach into the mid thousands have found their way to the feet of the world's most beautiful people and the designer of those shoes is none other than Christian lutan last year both Beyonce and Taylor Swift wore lub boutons during their respective concert tours he designed a different shoe for each Swift era l for red knei boots encrusted in rhinestones for midnights and margar Robie wore a pair of his metallic mules to the London premiere of Barby despite the Sea of pink the sols of her shoes remain lubaton red which has its own panone code 18-1 166 3tp the shoes have also become pop culture touchstones on Sex in the City Sarah Jessica Parker's heel addicted Carrie Bradshaw famously wore mismatch Lu and started a trend and cardi B immortalized his heels in her 2017 breakout hit bodak yellow in 2016 lubaton told Forbes I was born into a very feminine environment with my sisters who helped me to understand women and definitely led me to what I'm doing born and raised in Paris Laton Came From A working class background his father was a cabinet maker from Britany while his mother stayed home raising him and three older sisters when he was 10 lutan visited paris's Museum of African and oceanic art and saw a sign that forbade women from wearing stilettos that didn't sit right with the young lubaton kickstarting a lifelong obsession with shoes at 16 he was expelled from school and traveled to India before returning to Paris to intern at the FI berer where he began designing shoes for the dancers then came a stint with French shoe designer Charles Jordan followed by freelance work for Chanel and E Saron in 1988 he was hired by rajer vivier best known for inventing the Stiletto in the 1950s the fame French cobbler then took a brief hias from Footwear designing Terraces in New York and Gardens in France before opening his first shop in Paris in 1991 with the help of two friends aru and Bruno shamalan one of his first celebrity customers was Princess Caroline of Monaco since then UT's red Souls have become a fixture on the red carpet those famous Souls came to him in 1992 when he was disappointed by a shoe prototype in his aier and saw that his assistant was polishing her nails red he says that he then grabbed the Polish and painted the SS red from his first Boutique in the Gallerie veroda a 19th century neoclassical shopping arcade a short walk away from the Louver in Paris the brand continued to grow opening boutiques in New York in 1994 and London in 1997 over the next decade lubu On's heels would be spotted everywhere and he trademarked that red soul in France in 2000 3 years later he started selling bags followed by men's shoes in 2009 today lutan has more than 160 boutiques in 32 countries trees across four continents including 35 in the United States 23 in Japan and 20 in China and after four Decades of keeping his well-healed clients in his iconic red sold heels shoe designer Christian lutan is now a billionaire the 61-year-old designer is stepping into the billionaire ranks thanks to his aonomus fashion brand while still best known for its towering stilettos and perilous platforms the lubaton brand has expanded into sneakers bags and beauty products as well as lines for men and children the company was valued at 3.2 billion doar last year by exor the Investment Company of Italy's aneli family which bought a 24% stake in 2021 for about $650 million lubaton still owns 35% which fores values at 1.1 billion that stake makes up most of an estimated $1.2 billion Fortune that includes other Investments such as the Vero Hotel a luxury resort he opened in southern Portugal last year representatives for lutan didn't respond to requests for comment on the valuation over the years his company has aggressively protected its red soul in numerous lawsuits around the world that led to clashes with industry Titans and lawsuits against Zara which had lost and with e s lauran which had partly won last year luban Wan trademark cases in Brazil and India and filed a lawsuit alongside Tech Giant meta against a Mexican counterfeit selling fake lubaton on Facebook and Instagram lubaton himself remains essential to the brand success he designs the autumn and winter collections at his French Chateau or in Portugal and works on the spring and summer collections in Egypt or Brazil the sketches are then manufactured into shoes at factories in Italy and Spain the company produces more than 1 million pairs of shoes a year and as with many luxury fashion brands the high prices are key to its staying power after posting record profits during the pandemic the luxury goods industry saw slower growth in 2023 shoes were the slowest growing luxury category last year expanding by only 2 to 3% according to Bay and Company that's impacted lubaton 2 The Firm recorded net profits of $37 million in the first half of 2023 down 51% from the same period in 2022 amid raw material shortages and slow growth in China still the company added 10 boutiques and remained profitable and lubaton isn't ready to put his feet up just yet in February his brand announced a new line of sunglasses with Italian eyewear maker Mark kudin and in late March he designed a glittery disco themed Bal De La Rose charity gala for his old friend Princess Caroline in Monaco repl with 59 mirror balls a performance by Gloria Gainer and heels lots and lots of heels

Channel: Forbes

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Keywords: Forbes, Forbes Media, Forbes Magazine, Forbes Digital, Business, Finance, Entrepreneurship, Technology, Investing, Personal Finance, Christian Louboutin, Shoe Designer, Billionaire, Red Soles, Fashion Brand, Luxury Shoes, Celebrity Shoes, Designer Shoes, Fashion Industry, High-end Fashion, Fashion Icon, French Designer, Luxury Brand, Designer Footwear, Fashion Trends, Fashion Iconography, Celebrity Fashion, Luxury Lifestyle, Red Carpet Fashion, Designer Heels, Red Bottoms

Id: 0Z9NCFxaMU0

Length: 6min 47sec (407 seconds)

Published: Mon Apr 22 2024