From Savoy bellboy to global icon: the turbulent, violent history of the Gucci empire
In short: Guccio Gucci began his career carrying suitcases for aristocrats at London’s Savoy Hotel. Inspired, he returned to Italy to build a leather goods empire. Yet, the brand’s rise from a small Florence shop to a global luxury powerhouse was marred by decades of bitter family infighting and a high-profile murder.
Guccio Gucci founded his namesake company in 1921 on Florence’s Via della Vigna Nuova. His early success was built on leather goods and equestrian accessories, but the 1935 League of Nations embargo on Italy forced him to innovate. Facing a leather shortage, his workshop developed a durable, woven hemp fabric from Naples, which became the base for the brand’s first commercially successful bags featuring a signature diamond pattern. Following World War II, the company continued to adapt to material scarcity by importing bamboo from Japan to create its iconic bamboo-handled bags.
The brand’s expansion was driven by Gucci’s sons—Aldo, Vasco, and Rodolfo—who took over the business after their father’s death in 1953. While they successfully pushed the brand into international markets like New York, Paris, and Tokyo, the family dynamic grew increasingly toxic. By the 1980s, internal power struggles, tax evasion scandals, and public lawsuits had fractured the family. The situation culminated in the 1995 murder of Maurizio Gucci, the grandson of the founder, who had previously sold his remaining shares to the investment firm Investcorp in 1993.
Maurizio’s ex-wife, Patrizia Reggiani, was later convicted of orchestrating the assassination, fueled by bitterness over the sale of the family business. During her trial, she famously quipped that she did not want to miss the hit man because her eyesight was poor. Today, the brand is owned by the French corporation Kering, a far cry from the small, family-run workshop that once relied on hemp and bamboo to survive international sanctions. The dramatic saga of the Gucci family, characterized by betrayal and excess, was later immortalized in the 2021 film House of Gucci.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Gucci | History, Fashion, Logo, & Facts | Britannica
- Also: Guccio Gucci
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