History of Hermes Boca Raton
Without a doubt, Hermes is considered one of the highest end luxury brands in the world today. They are considered even more high end than companies like Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and Gucci. Their bags, scarves, ties, and fashion wear are made with premier leather, silk, etc. Most products they produce are handmade making no two items exactly the same. Years of design and planning go in to each product they produce. They sell handbags in the tens of thousands of dollars and have a two year waiting list to get one. How did they become so popular? What makes Hermes so special? Learn about the history of Hermes Boca Raton here.
Thierry Hermès created the company in the early 19th century in France. It was first established as a harness workshop dedicated to serving European noblemen. He created very high quality harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade. Hermes’ son, Charles-Emile, took over the family business and moved it to 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore where it remains to this day. With the help of his sons, they created saddlery and started to sell the products retail. They were catering to the world’s elite. And in 1900 they introduced the Haut à Courroies bag. It was specially designed for riders to carry their saddles in.
After Charles-Emile retired, his two sons took over and renamed the company Hermes Freres. One of his two sons Emile-Maurice started furnishing the czar of Russia with his saddles and by 1914 80 saddle makers were employed at the company. Emile-Maurice was granted exclusive rights to use the zipper and was the first to do so in France. Because of this right, Hermes actually introduced the first leather golf jacket with a zipper made for the Prince of Wales. Then, in the 1920’s Emile-Maurice started to introduce a clothing and accessory collection. And at the same time he was grooming his three sons-in-law to be business partners. It wasn’t until 1922 that the first handbag collection was created by Emile himself because his wife did not like any of the designs. Throughout the rest of of the early part of the 20th century Emile-Maurice grew the brand to include more bags, scarves, and products. He grew an international presence too especially in the US.
Robert Dumas-Hermes took over after the death of his father-in-law in 1951. He was the first man to run the company not related to the original Hermes. During this time the company adopted the horse logo you see today along with their trademarked orange color boxes.
Despite their apparent international success Hermes was struggling throughout the 1970’s. Hermes started to fail compared to their competitors because they used natural materials rather than man made materials. By staying true to their quality design they fell behind in the sales race.
However, when the 1980’s came around they started to improve. Tableware became a strong segment for the firm and really improved their sales. In 1993 the company went public so great excitement. Investors wanted to buy into this century old company. Even after the public offering, Hermes family members still owned over 80% of the company.
As of 2008, Hermès has 14 product divisions encompassing leather, scarves, ties, men’s wear, women’s fashion, perfume, watches, stationery, footwear, gloves, enamel, decorative arts, tableware, and jewelry. However 30% of Hermes’ sales are from leather goods. The Hermes family is against mass production and stays true to their heritage.
