Hermès Paris

In The Historic TradeMark’s series I have now decided to focus on Hermès Paris.

The French pronounce it as if it’s AIR-MEZ and let’s face it so many names sound better, in my honest opinion, in French. Even my two last names do. 

Their trade name is Hermès International SA, however most of us refer to them as Hermès, as you may have guessed this is a French company and was founded in 1837 by Thierry Hermès. They manufacture luxury goods, specialising in leather goods and lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, jewellery and pret-a-porter - also known as ready to wear clothes. 

At the very beginning Hermès was focused on serving the nobility making harnesses and bridles for the carriage trade. Did you know that? I didn’t until I did some research on the mark and the company.

They won several prizes for their workmanship. Later on came saddles and it became retail oriented. Back in the 1900 they made a special bag for riders to carry their saddles. Saddles can be rather cumbersome to transport, I never had a saddlebag. 

At one point the company was called Hermès Freres* and they were furnishing the Russian Tzar with saddles. Back then they had exclusive rights to use the zipper with leather goods and clothing! Imagine that. They introduced the zipper to France. It was known as le fermeture Hermès! (The Hermès fastener). 

The amount of accessories was expanded through the 1920’s not to mention clothes. As a result of Emile-Maurice’s wife’s displeasure at not being able to find a handbag he then created one for her, or rather a collection of handbags. 

In 1924 the company expanded to the US and also opened two shops outside of Paris. In the 1930’s the Sac a Dépêches was introduced, it was later renamed Le Sac Kelly or the Kelly bag after Grace Kelly. Later on they introduced the Hermès Carrés - square scarves. 

Much later there was a silk tie and a perfume launched not to mention jewellery and watches.   

*then at some stage it became Dumas-Hermès 

In the 1950’s came the logo of the Duc-carriage-with-horse and then due to a shortage of cardboard they started using orange paper boxes. Which today is the iconic orange of the brand!

After the 1970’s there was a decline in Hermès compared to other leather goods manufacturers - some claim that this was due to the insistence on using natural materials rather than man made new materials. Fragrances were what relaunched Hermès due to a shift from artificial ingredients back to natural ones. 

At some stage in the late 1970’s the focus was on silk and leather goods not to mention ready-to-wear with new items in the collection. In the 1980 there was a massive growth and they launched table ware as well, then further down the line came crystal too and porcelain. 

In the beginning og 1990’s they went public on the French stock exchange. The Hermès family holding onto 80% in stocks. In 2019 Forbes list of »Most Valuable Brands«, Hermès ranked as 33rd!

There have been many designers who have worked for Hermès, one of the most notable Jean-Paul Gaultier - also known as Enfant terrible of the fashion world due to his highly controversial ways. 

The list of goods is long:

Luxury is at the core of everything Hermès does.  Leather goods, scarves, ties, clothes for men and women, perfume, watches, stationary, footwear, gloves, enamelware, decorative arts, jewellery, makeup and tableware. 

At some stage there has been a collaboration with Apple inc. to create apple watch-Hermès, in 2015, and in 2021 they teamed up again to produce the AirTag a device to help people locate their goods because it was attached onto the Hermès keyring, bag charm and luggage tag. 

There’s a Hermès foundation that hands out prizes in support of craftsmanship and creation.  

Click this link to see the Apple-Hermès watches:

https://www.apple.com/uk/apple-watch-hermes/

They advocate sustainable development and they wish to leave a positive imprint on the world and honour the entrepreneurial spirit with 6 generations of artisans. 

If you would like to know if you are trade mark ready tap this link:

https://www.grandipr.dk/questionnaire