Hermès

Over the course of the following years, Hermès will pursue its strategy based on the creativity and quality of its products, the reinforcement of its know-how in each of its markets, as well as the development of new client areas. Key Dates: 1930s:Leadership passes to Robert Dumas, son-in-law of Emile-Maurice Hermès; company introduces handbags and enters the U.S. market. Known as 'one of the world's most elegant businesses,' Hermès International S.A. is a manufacturer and marketer of upscale luggage, apparel, and accessories. From a 19th-century foundation in leather goods, the company (pronounced 'air-may') diversified into silk goods, ready-to-wear clothing, and perfume. Its ongoing dedication to family ownership and management, impeccable craftsmanship, and careful protection of the brand's mystique set Hermès apart from many of its French luxury goods compatriots. With or without the venerable trademark, Hermès products are distinguished by their uncompromising quality, a concept summarized in a family credo: 'Que l'utile soit beau' ('That the useful be beautiful'). Hermès's trademark calèche, or horse-drawn carriage (based on a drawing by Alfred de Dreux), harkens back to its origins as a wholesale saddlery business. Founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès, the firm gained renown as a producer of one-of-a-kind saddlery for European noblemen. It was rumored that coronations were sometimes postponed for years until Hermès could create original carriage designs. The functional and decorative 'saddle stitch' used by Hermès craftsmen to join pieces of leather together would come to represent the branded goods' quality and simple elegance. When executed by hand (as it was throughout Hermès's history), the technique involved punching holes through multiple layers of leather, then alternating needles at either end of a beeswaxed linen thread through the holes in a figure-eight pattern. The company continued to custom-make saddles, investing 20 to 40 hours in each, throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Thierry Hermès's son Emile-Charles moved the family business to 24, rue du Faubourg St. Honoré--a site that would become one of Paris's most prized pieces of real estate--and launched retail sales sometime before the turn of the 20th century. He sold his stake in the business to brother Emile-Maurice in 1922. Faced with the ascent of the automobile and corresponding obsolescence of the carriage, Emile-Maurice Hermès began to diversify into travel- and sport-related leather goods. Still, he never abandoned Hermès's 'horsey heritage,' though saddlebags would give way to luggage, wallets, and handbags. The famous Hermès 'Kelly' bag, named in the 1950s after Princess Grace (née Kelly) of Monaco, who was often photographed with the accessory, started out as a specialty 19th-century saddlebag and was reintroduced as a handbag in the 1930s. The attention to detail that had become a family hallmark was applied to every new Hermès product. The construction of each Kelly bag, for example, required 18 hours of work by a single artisan. The association with royalty and celebrities--the Hermès 'Constance' purse was a favorite of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis--helped burnish the brand image. Although the company introduced a dozen new handbag styles each year, these two designs-the Kelly and the Constance-would remain in consistent demand. Another company innovation under the leadership of Emile-Maurice Hermès was his purchase of a two-year patent on a Canadian invention, the fermeture éclair , or zipper, which he brought back to France. The closure became so closely associated with Hermès products (handbags, jockey silks, and leather gloves) that Frenchmen came to call it a fermeture Hermès. One oft-repeated 'zipper story' finds the Prince of Wales, a well-known fashion maven, requesting a zippered leather golfing jacket, thereby inaugurating the Hermès line of leather apparel. The family launched ready-to-wear clothing, leather-banded watches,