Who was Guccio Gucci?

Guccio Giovanbattista Giacinto Dario Maria Gucci (3/26/1881-1/2/1953 Florence, Tuscany, Kingdom of Italy) was an Italian businessman and fashion designer. He is known for being the founder of the fashion house of Gucci.

Guccio was the son of Tuscan parents, Gabrielle Gucci, a leather craftsman, and Elena Santini. As a teenager, in 1899, Guccio Gucci worked at the Savoy Hotel (The first luxury hotel in Britain) in London. Gucci was inspired by the elegant upper-class hotel guests and by luggage companies such as H.J. Cave and Sons. He returned to Florence and started making travel bags and accessories.

In 1921, he founded the House of Gucci in Florence, a small family-owned leather shop. He began selling saddles, leather bags and other accessories to horsemen in the 1920s. In 1938, Gucci expanded his business to a second location in Rome, at the insistence of his son Aldo. His one-man business eventually turned into a family business, when his sons joined the company.

In 1951, Gucci opened their store in Milan. He wanted to keep the business small and while he was alive, the company remained only in Italy. Two weeks before Guccio death, the New York Gucci boutique was opened by his sons Aldo, Rodolf, and Vasco.

Gucci became an Italian luxury fashion house based in Florence, Italy. Its product line include handbags, ready-to-wear, footwear, and accessories, makeup, fragrances, and home decoration. In 2019 Gucci was worth $9.62 billion.