Louis Vuitton worked for several years as an apprentice to Monsieur Marėchal, the most famous travel trunk and case maker of this time period, before beginning his own company. After studying with Monsieur Marėchal for 17 years before deciding to start his own trunk-making business in 1854. His first trunk-making workshop was located just a short walk from the major fashion houses of the rue de la Paix and the place VendĂ´me. By 1860, Vuitton’s business had grown by leaps and bounds. Not only did he have a trunk-making shop, he also had a luggage workshop as well as a brand new manufacturing workshop. However, because of the city’s construction and adding of new arrondissements, he decided to move his operations from Paris to Asnières. By 1867, his factory was going strong, and business was improving even more. In 1867, over 15 million visitors attended the World’s Fair in Paris. Here, Vuitton participated as one of the 52,000 exhibitors, showcasing his trunks made in his new factory in Asnières. Vuitton ended up winning third place and a bronze medal.
In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian War had ended, Vuitton decided to open up a new store in addition to his Asnières workshop. This store opened at the highly fashionable 1 rue Scribe. He decided to devote two of the store’s wings to travel goods and one wing to luggage. This was a sure sign of what direction his company would take in the future. In 1875, Vuitton received one of his more unusual commissions from the well-known explorer, Savorgnan de Brazzo. De Brazzo requested a set of luggage for expedition to the Congo as well as a trunk-bed. Vuitton met his requirements by designing a folding frame fitted into a compact trunk. A canvas springing on a thin but comfortable mattress was fitted over the frame. Needless to say, de Brazzo was thrilled with the items and Vuitton’s skill and reputation continued to spread. When Vuitton’s son, Georges, married in 1880, Louis took this as an opportunity to reorganize the company. Louis wanted to concentrate on the Asnières workshop, so he decided to hand over the setup at 1 rue Scribe to Georges and his new wife Josèphine.
The original pattern of Louis Vuitton’s trunks was a striped canvas. However, as the label became more and more popular, it was copied more and more. So, in 1889, Louis and Georges Vuitton decided to change their signature pattern to a brown draught board pattern on a beige background. This new pattern bore the very first registered trademark (Marque L. Vuitton dèsposèe). The new pattern was referred to as the Damier canvas. These new trunks were to be covered in woven moleskin coated using a new process. In 1885, Louis Vuitton expanded the company to London, where he opened a third store. In 1892, Vuitton published the company’s first catalog which displayed items such as: traditional trunks covered either in leather or canvas, watertight trunks for people traveling to the colonies, trunk-beds, wardrobes, picnic cases, soft travel bags, five-barrel locks, handbags, and more. The catalog was proof of the evolution of Vuitton’s work. This catalog held the first appearance of bags made of soft canvas. Fittingly, Vuitton passed away just a few weeks later on February 27, 1892.
After Louis Vuitton died, his son Georges became the mastermind behind running the company. Georges had true international ambitions, with plans to expand into the United States. By this time, competitors had also copied the Damier canvas. It was time to come up with a new signature pattern that was much more difficult to copy. Georges created the new motif, which was comprised of a beige circle containing a four-petal flower, a curved beige lozenge containing a four-pointed curved star, a star with a point in the center, and the initials LV in memory of his father. Finally, the monogram canvas that is so well known today was born. In 1900, Paris once again hosted the World’s Fair. And again, the Vuitton booth was very successful. Georges ran the exhibit with his young son, where they presented many of their new products. This time, the Louis Vuitton company was ranked “in a class of their own.” This success caused the company’s business to expand even more and they now had over 100 employees.
In 1904, the time came for Georges to travel to the United States to increase awareness of the Louis Vuitton name. He attended the World’s Fair in St. Louis, where he showed many of his new products including items such as the new Excelsior trunk, the new Idèale trunk, and other trunks designed for carrying different things including perfume, makeup, hats, shoes, etc. In 1914, the business was well on its way to becoming a household name around the world. Georges opened yet another store in the Champs-Elysèes. At the time of this opening, this store was the largest space in the world devoted to travel goods. By this point, there were Louis Vuitton stores in London, New York, Washington D.C., Bombay, Alexandria, Buenos Aires, and of course, Paris. In the next 15 years, Louis Vuitton gained such famous devotees such as Charles Lindbergh, Marthe Chenal (the greatest opera singer of the time), and Prince Borghese to name a few. In 1931, Georges passed away at 79 years old. He bequeathed to his son, Gaston-Louis, a grand company that he had worked hard to build into an international household name.
By the time that Georges died, Gaston-Louis had been involved in the running of the company for several years. Gaston-Louis was an art lover with a creative streak, culminating in the design of many of the new products, especially those inspired by the Art Deco movement of this time. At the time that he became the overseer of the business, he was directing the design and building of a new type of luggage, the secretary trunk. This “traveling office” would eventually become one of the symbols of Louis Vuitton’s knowledge, skill, and talent. By the end of World War II, raw materials were hard to come by. In 1946, Louis Vuitton was forced to use sub-contracted joinery work to save money. However, by 1951, the economy was on its way to recovery, and once again, the Louis Vuitton stores could be supplied with new items. Unfortunately, this point left only three stores left open: Paris, Nice, and Vichy. The war had definitely taken its toll on the company. Luckily, once society and the economy started straightening out again, Louis Vuitton received its first big order in years. The order came from France’s president, President Auriol; he wanted a collection of trunks and wardrobes for his upcoming trip to the United States. By 1954, the 100-year anniversary of Louis Vuitton, the Champs-Elysèes had become more of a place of commerce with brasseries and cinemas replacing the high-end stores that used to reside there. After 40 years on the Champs-Elysèes, Gaston-Louis made the decision to move this location to a townhouse on the Avenue Marceau, which he felt was more in keeping with the tone of the company and its merchandise.
Because society was becoming more mobile and more fast-paced, their luggage needs had changed. People now wanted more practical, lighter, and less burdensome luggage than what Louis Vuitton had been making in the past. In order to adapt to these new requests, the soft canvas bags that had previously been barely introduced now became a major staple in the Louis Vuitton line of merchandise. In 1959, a new procedure had been invented that allowed linen and soft canvas to be coated allowing for an easier process of manufacturing soft canvas bags. Between 1959 and 1965, the company presented at least 25 new models each year. However, the disadvantage to such high growth was the increasingly large numbers of fake Louis Vuitton goods being made, especially abroad. Gaston-Louis decided the best way to combat these counterfeit goods was to increase the company’s market to include these foreign countries. In 1979, Gaston-Louis opened both a sales office in Tokyo and a retail store elsewhere in Japan. Unfortunately, he did not get much of a chance to enjoy this new chapter in the company’s life because he was struck with a sudden illness the following year and died.
In 1977, the Louis Vuitton SA holding company was created in order to assist with a new international development strategy that was based on the control and integration of distribution. In 1978, two stores were opened in Tokyo and Osaka. The company had rapidly continued to expand its international market to encompass stores in Seoul, Beijing, London, New York, Marrakech, Moscow, and New Delhi, just to name a few. In 1985, Louis Vuitton decided to create a new line of handbags, called the Epi line, in exciting colors that changed from year to year. This was the first break from the traditional Louis Vuitton monogrammed bags that had been the company’s trademark since 1896. In 1987, Louis Vuitton merged with Moet-Hennessy, the famous champagne producer. This merger created one of the largest leading world luxury goods groups. Inspired by the joining of the two companies, Louis Vuitton intensified its international expansion, opening more than 200 stores worldwide and widening its range of products. In 1998, yet another division of the Louis Vuitton company was born when a relatively unknown designer named Marc Jacobs created the company’s first prêt-a-porter collection. Jacobs was also responsible for several new lines of bags including the Monogram Mini, the Damier Sauvage, the Monogram Glacé, and the limited edition Graffiti collection. In 2001, Louis Vuitton also launched its first jewelry line.
Today, Louis Vuitton is a multi-national company with trunks, luggage, handbags, clothing, and jewelry divisions. It is a household name worldwide and is known for its quality merchandise.
