Hermes

Hermes is a French company founded in 1837 by Thierr Hermes to make leather goods for well-healed clients.  His family was originally from Germany and later settled in Paris around 1828.  His son Charles-Emile Hermes and grandsons Aldolphe and Emile-Maurice continued to run the family design house after Thierry died.  Robert Dumas-Hermes introduced the Hermes tie, beach towel, and perfume collection soon after his great grand father passed away, which marked a major turning point for Hermes.  Products suddenly became more accessible.  When Robert died in 1978 his son Jean Louis took control of the company and functioned as the 5th generation family Chairman of Hermes to take a personal role in product development.  He traveled extensively all over the world cultivating inspirations to perpetuate his family's brand's success.  As you can see, Hermes has remained a devoutly family based brand although the ready-to-wear division has been manned by many notable designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier who assumed the helm of the division in 2003.  Only three weeks ago was his position usurped by Pierre-Alexis Hermes, thereby transferring control back into the family.  He is now the sole artistic director for all Hermes product divisions.  The tightly knit family brand is sustained because of the long-standing fact that only 20% of its shares are publicly traded on the Paris Bourse exchange.  The inimitable success of Hermes is evidenced in its annual sales which are well over $2 billion and growing every year despite worldwide financial crises and recessions.  This is partly because of the ethic of meticulous craftsmanship that is based in saddle-making and boutique methods that ensure lasting consistency for the company.  Hermes sales are made up of 30% leather goods such as bags and wallets, 15% clothes, 12% scarves, and 15% ties, and other miscellaneous products.

The original clients of Thierry Hermes included the Parisian high society or beau monde and various European royalty, including the emperor Napoleon III and his empress Eugenie.  But Thierry's true and favorite client was the horse.  He had an insatiable passion for equestrianism that he fueled through his many designs for horses especially saddles, which are still sold today.  The saddle segment of Hermes was and still is an extremely custom business that requires measurements from both the horse and rider.  Because of this, another longstanding trademark of Hermes emerged: the long but well worth wait.  Every item is hand-stitched and therefore cannot be rushed.  The effects of this are seen historically when at many points royal coronations were postponed or held up until Hermes fittings for the carriage and royal figures had been completed.  Nonetheless, customers continue to flock to Hermes undisturbed.  In this century, the waitlist for popular cultish items such as the Birkin bag, which was created for and by Jane Birkin in 1984, can be up to 5 years in length.  This is because each bag takes at least 18-25 of man hours to make and the Paris workrooms only produce 5 bags per week to ensure optimal quality control.  In addition, only 12 highly trained craftsmen and -women work in total on the bags.  Currently, an Hermes bag is the only bag on the market that has never seen its resale value dip below its purchase price.  In fact, most of the time, an Hermes bag increases in value and never dips below retail.  Also adding to Hermes's success is the popularity of their silk scarves.  In Paris alone, one scarf is sold every 20 seconds.  Hermes has and most likely will remain among the world's premier luxury labels that endure steadfastly.