HERMÈS

OVER THE
TIME
 1837 - Thierry Hermès founded the company
in as a harness workshop in Paris.
 Hermès’ intent was to serve the needs of
European noblemen by providing saddles,
bridles and other leather riding gear.
 1880 - Thierry’s son Charles-Émile Hermès
moved the company’s shop to 24 Rue Du
Faubourg Saint-Honore in Paris, where it
remains to this very day and is the
company’s global headquarters.
 Gradually, the company’s product offerings
expanded through generations.
 Between 1880 and 1900, it started selling
saddlery and introduced its product in retail
stores.
 It now focuses on international retail sales
with lines catering to the elite of Europe,
Russia, North Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
 1900 - Charles-Emile & his sons, Adolphe and Emile-
Maurice, design the ‘Haut a Courroies’ bag,
intended to allow riders to carry their saddles
with them.
 1902 - Charles-Emile retires, leaving the business
to his sons rename it Hermes Freres (Hermes
Brothers)
 1914 - Emile-Maurice - first person in France to
introduce use of the zipper on leather goods and
clothing - gains exclusive rights
 1918 - the first leather golf jacket with a zipper,
crafted for Edward, Prince of Wales. - ‘fermeture
Hermes’, or the ‘Hermes fastener’.
 1919 – a decline in sales cause Adolphe leaves thus
making Emile-Maurice buys brother out
 1922 - Emile-Maurice’s wife complains of not being
able to find one to her liking. The bag is a
smaller version of the ‘Haut a Courroies’ and is
designed by Emile-Maurice and Ettore Bugatti called
Sac à dépêches
1924 - Hermes establish a
presence in the United
States

1928 - Silk scarves were

introduced

1929 - first women’s

couture apparel collection
which includes bathing
outfits
 1937 - Hermes introduces the silk
scarf which instantly becomes a huge
hit with celebrities such as
Jacqueline Kennedy.
 1950 - The perfume division of
Hermes is established.
 1951 - Emile-Maurice Hermes passes
away
 Robert Dumas Hermes, husband of
Jacqueline Hermes, takes over the
company with perfumer Jean Rene
Guerrand, husband of Aline Hermes,
both of whom are great-
granddaughters of Thierry Hermes.
 1935 - Hermes launch one of their most recognizable
original goods, the Sac a Depeche's bag

 1954 - Hitchcock allowed the costume designer Edith Head

to purchase Hermès accessories for the film To Catch a
Thief, starring Grace Kelly.

 Kelly "fell in love" with the bag.

 Within months of her 1956 marriage to Prince Rainier III,

the pregnant Princess of Monaco was photographed using
the handbag to shield her growing belly from the
paparazzi.

 A photo of this Hollywood actress turned Monaco Princess,

carrying a Hermes Sac a Depeches is published on the
front cover of Life Magazine.

 Suddenly women are flooding into Hermes stores asking for

the ‘Kelly Bag’ renaming this bag to The Kelly
 1981 - The iconic Birkin bag is introduced,
named after British actress Jane Birkin
following a chance encounter the year
previous.
 The eye of the ultra-premium luxury
segment, the “Birkin bag” was introduced in
1982, after a chance conversation between
the then CEO Jean-Louis Dumas and actress
and singer Jane Birkin on a flight from
Paris to London, who articulated to Dumas
that she needed a medium-sized bag.
 Each Birkin costs between USD 7,000 to USD
300,000 and is the exquisite handiwork of a
single craftsman, who takes between 18 to
24 hours to complete the job via hand, more
if the hide is a delicate crocodile skin.
 2016 - Study conducted shows that the
iconic Birkin bag has been a better
investment than stocks or gold over the
previous 35 years.
 The Birkin bag has the longest waiting list
for an accessory today, reported to be
around six years
 “We don’t have a policy of
image, we have a policy of
product”. - CEO Jean-Louis
Dumas
 The main strength of the
Hermès brand is the love
for craftsmanship
 “I think Hermès objects
are desirable because they
reconnect people to their
humanity… Our customer
feels the presence of the
person who crafted the
object, while at the same
time the object brings him
back to his own
sensitivity, because it
gives him pleasure through
his senses”. - current CEO
Axel Dumas
 All new employees and artisans are
carefully selected and go through a three-
day in-house training session called
“Inside the Orange Box”
 Hermès does not look at celebrity
endorsements as a brand-building tactic and
has actively stayed away from this form of
marketing.
 Hermès does not follow strategies of
launching region-specific collections or
product offers.
 Hermès has always being a significant
proponent and user of the “limited edition”
strategy and also limits distribution of
its products in its stores
 Hermès has introduced “patience” as a very strong principle and
element in its brand strategy.
 Customers cannot expect to walk into a store and walk out with a
Birkin bag. Instead, one has to place an order and wait for a
few months before it is ready.
 Instead of rationing high demand by price like normal economic
law dictates, Hermès rations by queue.
 It is often debated by economists that the queue for Hermès bags
creates surplus demand which overflows into other Hermès
“consolation” products like wallets and belts.