The Company is founded in 1946 by the designer Christian Dior, today the company designs and retails ready-to-wear, leather goods, fashion accessories, fragrance, jewelry, timepieces, footwear, make-up, and skincare products while also maintaining its tradition as a creator of recognized haute-couture (under the Christian Dior Couture division).
#6 Marc Jacobs
Marc Jacobs (born April 9, 1963) is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with over 200 retail stores in 80 countries. He was the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2013. Jacobs was on Time magazine's "2010 Time 100" list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and ranked number 14 on Out magazine's 2012 list of "50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America".
#5 Armani
Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion house founded by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, eyewear, cosmetics and home interiors. The brand markets these products under several labels, from the most expensive to the most accessible. Armani Prive, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Armani Collezioni, AJ | Armani Jeans, AX | Armani Exchange. The brand utilizes the association of the Armani name with high-fashion, benefiting from its prestige in the fashion industry. By the end of 2005, estimated sales of the company were around $1.69 billion.
#4 Dolce & Gabbana
Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana.
The two met in Milan in 1980 and worked for the same fashion house. In 1982 they established a designer consulting studio; in time it grew to become "Dolce & Gabbana". They presented their first women's collection in 1985 in Milan, where a year later their store would open its doors.
In 1988, they launched their leotard line, and in 1989 they began designing underwear and swimming costumes. Dolce & Gabbana started to export their products to Japan and other countries like the U.S., where they founded their own showroom in 1990. In 1992, the same year they presented their men's collection, they also launched their first perfume Dolce & Gabbana. They won the Woolmark award in 1991, and the prize "most feminine flavor of the year" in 1993. Towards the end of the 1990s their sales were around 500 million dollars and in 2003 their revenue reached $633 million. By 2005, their turnover was €600 million.
#3 Prada
The company was started in 1913 by Mario Prada and his brother Martino as a leathergoods shop – Fratelli Prada (English: Prada Brothers) – in Milan, Italy. Initially, the shop sold leather goods and imported English steamer trunks and handbags.
Mario Prada did not believe that women should have a role in business, and so he prevented female family members from entering into his company. Ironically, Mario's son harbored no interest in the business, so it was his daughter Luisa Prada who took the helm of Prada as his successor, and ran it for almost twenty years. Her own daughter, Miuccia Prada, joined the company in 1970, eventually taking over for her mother in 1978.
Miuccia began making waterproof backpacks out of Pocone. She met Patrizio Bertelli in 1977, an Italian who had begun his own leathergoods business at the age of 17, and he joined the company soon after. He advised Miuccia—and she followed the advice—on better decisions for the Prada company. It was his advice to discontinue importing English goods and to change the existing luggage.
#2 Chanel
Chanel S.A. is a French, privately held company owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of the couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Chanel S.A. is a high fashion house that specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods and fashion accessories. In her youth, Gabrielle Chanel gained the nickname Coco from her time as a chanteuse. As a fashion designer, Coco Chanel catered to women’s taste for elegance in dress, with blouses and suits, trousers and dresses, and jewellery (gemstone and bijouterie) of simple design, that replaced the opulent, over-designed, and constrictive clothes and accessories of 19th-century fashion. The Chanel product brands have been personified by fashion models and actresses, including Inès de la Fressange, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Vanessa Paradis, Nicole Kidman, Anna Mouglalis, Hope Portocarrero, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley and Marilyn Monroe.
#1 Gucci
Gucci is an Italian fashion and leather goods brand, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by the French company Kering, formerly known as PPR. Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921. Gucci generated about €4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 according to BusinessWeek magazine and climbed to 41st position in the magazine's annual 2009 "Top Global 100 Brands" chart created by Interbrand. Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand. Gucci operates about 278 directly operated stores worldwide (as of September 2009) and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores. In the year 2013, the brand was valued at US$12.1 billion, with sales of US$4.7 billion. In the Forbes list for 2013, Gucci was ranked the 38th most valuable brand. As of January 2015, the creative director is Alessandro Michele.
