Hermes

Hermes is a French company which was founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermes (1801-1878) whose main purpose was to make leather products. His family were originally German Protestants who settled in Paris around 1828. His son Charles-Emile Hermes (1835-1919) and grandsons Adolphe Hermes and Emile-Maurice (1870-1951) continued to run the family firm after Thierry died. Emile-Maurice had four daughters, one of them who married Robert Dumas. When Emile-Maurice died in 1951, his son-in-laws Robert Dumas (1905-1978) and Jean-Rene Guerrand (1901-1993) took over the house of Hermes. They added the name Hermes to their own surname. Robert Dumas-Hermes introduced the Hermes Tie, the Beach towel, as well as the Perfume.

When Robert Dumas died in 1978, his son Jean-Louis Dumas-Hermes (born 1938) took over the Hermes company. He is the 5th generation Chairman of Hermes. He is known to be an extremely active chairman, taking a personal interest in every kind of Hermes product or development. He travels extensively throughout the world, and brings back ideas which consequently went into Hermes product lines. His wife Rena is very much involved with charitable activities and philanthropy, and his son Pierre-Alexis is an Art school student. 

Emile-Maurice Hermes traveled throughout Europe and Russia in the first few years of the 20th century. He then became a supplier of saddles to the Czar of Russia. In Canada, buying gear, he spotted the zip and brought it back to France. In 1918 the first leather Golf jacket with a zip was first made by Hermes. Seeing that the days of the horse-carriage were numbered, Hermes attempted to preserve its charm through the creation of different sizes of luggage inspired by the caleche form.

Today, in the Hermes leather storage facility in Paris, France are hundreds of the finest animal skins, such as alligator from Florida, buffalo from Pakistan, crocodile from Australia, sharks from Thailand, lizards from Malaysia, oxen, deer, calf and goats and much more from all over the world. These are dyed in every possible colour, pattern and texture imaginable and then turned into potential stylish accessories.

 In 1937, when Hermes was 100 years old, his followers started making silk headscarves. Their first scarf was called "Jeux des Omnibus et Dames Blanches" and since then 1,000 designs have been created. Their horse motif scarves are particularly successful and very famous.

In 1922 the wife of Emile-Maurice Hermes complained that she could not find an appropriate handbag that she liked. So he began making handbags at Hermes, many with the revolutionary invention of the zip, which he had patented earlier.

Today, the House of Hermes make many famous handbags of all shapes and sizes. Some of their most famous are:

The Kelly Bag (1956) - named after Princess Grace Kelly who was shown on the cover of Life magazine, carrying the bag.

The Constance Bag - Jackie Onassis wore this shoulder bag with the double strap and big H clasp so often that people often call it the Jackie-O-bag.

The Birkin Bag (1984) - named after Jane Birkin, the famous film star and model of the 1960's, who met Jean-Louis when struggling to get her handbag on a plane overhead locker. There is a one-year waiting list for ladies wanting to order this bag.

Hermes first women's collection was shown in Paris in 1929. Over the years the ready-to-wear collections have been designed by Lola Prusac, Jacques Delahaye, Catherine de Karolyi, Monsieur Levaillant, Nicole de Vesian, Eric Bergere, Claude Brouet, Tan Giudicelli, Marc Audibet, Veronique Nichanian and Mariot Chane.

From 1998 to 2003 Belgian designer Martin Margiela was the designer of the House of Hermes. The reclusive, avant-garde designer known for his deconstructed clothing produced some simple elegant modern clothes for Hermes.

Today, Hermes has remained a family-owned company. Only a small 20 % of it's shares are traded on the Paris Bourse. Their turnover per year is of approximately $ l billion. The ethic of meticulous craftsmanship learned in saddle-making has spread throughout the company for every product they chose to make. Hermes sales are made of up to 30 % in leather goods, 15 % in bclothes, and 12 % in scarves.  

In early 2003 it was announced that Frenchman Jean-Paul Gaultier would be the designer for the future collections of Hermes Haute Couture.

Find fashion by Hermes @ the following eshop: