The first ever Gucci shop
Few brands have as strong an association with indulgence and luxury as Gucci. The Italian fashion brand was founded in Florence, Italy in 1921 and has since then carved out its claim as the premier brand for luxury clothing, jewelry, and other apparel.
For almost the duration of this time, Gucci has proudly displayed its double-G logo, working to make the emblem a symbol for high-end quality and a proud stamp of the company’s approval.
How though did the world’s best-selling Italian brand end up designing a logo that would have over 80 years of staying power, and what role did the company’s logo play in elevating Gucci to such a high level of prominence?
To answer these, we’ll look at the history of the Gucci logo as well as the origins of the brand itself.
While working as a hotel employee in Paris and London, the man that would later go on to found Gucci, Guccio Gucci, became impressed by the high-quality luggage that he brought up for guests. In 1920, Gucci returned to his birthplace of Florence and opened a small shop selling fine leather goods.
In his shop, Gucci employed skilled artesian craftsmen who hand-crafted the products he sold with utmost attention to detail. The store was a success, and with the help of his three sons, Gucci soon expanded the brand by opening up additional stores in Milan and Rome.
By the 1950s, Gucci had established itself as a premier luxury brand. Movie stars posed in Gucci apparel, the rich and famous all sought out Gucci products, and the brand really began to set itself apart as the primary name in luxury fashion.
Today, Gucci has a revenue of $4.3 billion and is the best-selling Italian brand in the world. At one point, Gucci products were the most frequently copied products in all the world, inspiring more imitators than even oft-copied brands such as Rolex.
Given all this, it’s easy to say that Gucci has certainly had a long and illustrious history, but what role did the brand’s logo play in this, and what is the history of the famous Gucci logo?
In 1933, Guccio Gucci’s son, Aldo Gucci joined the family business. Up until this point the company had operated without any sort of official logo, however, Aldo set out to change that. In designing a logo for the brand, Aldo combined the initials of his father into a double-G design.
So as to leave no confusion about the namesake of the logo, the Gucci logo is most often seen with the name of the company spelled out above it.
Over the years, this double-G logo grew to become recognizable across the world. Products stamped with the Gucci logo were coveted everywhere, and scam artists looking to make a quick buck worked hard to imitate the logo on their own, replica products. Today, the Gucci logo is still immediately recognizable by anyone with a taste for luxury fashion.
Interestingly enough, despite the importance and longevity of their logo, Gucci almost lost the rights to it.
Thanks to a bit of ambiguity in the UK’s intellectual property laws, Gucci’s UK trademark on their famous logo ran out in 2012, and the brand failed to successfully renew it. The mistake left them unable to defend their claim to the logo and opened the doors for other fashion brands to legally imitate it.
In a case that showed just how important the logo is to Gucci’s branding, the company took the situation very seriously, fighting to maintain their trademark on the logo and saying that “Gucci’s reputation may suffer damage by association with a non-luxury or low cost fashion brand.”.
Unfortunately for Gucci, it was a case they ultimately lost, leaving them without a trademark on their logo in the UK.
Nevertheless, this one mishap has done little to tarnish the long, illustrious history of the Gucci logo.
Well…you know the rest.
Source: Time Magazine
