Gucci, A Century Old Italian Fashion Luxury Leather Brand, Crafts Clothing, Bags, Footwear, And Accessories From Real Leather And Real Skins Such As Python, Crocodile, Alligator, And Ostrich Using Great Skill And Quality. As The Flagship Luxury Fashion House Of the Kering Group, Their Italian Craftsmen Use Carefully Grown Vegetable Tanned Leathers and Skins From The Newly Purchased Leather Farms Of Kering. Kering’s Motto Is ” Be Responsible And Protect The Environment Eliminating The Usage Of Metals And Chemicals During The Tanning Process”; Therefore Vegetable Tanning Is The Gold Standard For Their Leathers.
Company Info
Designer Brand: Gucci Fashion Company
Established: 1921
Location: Via Tornabuoni 73/r, 50123 Florence, Italy
Contact: 0039 055 759221 (USA :1-877-482-2430)
Company Slogan: The Pinnacle Leader In Responsible Quality Italian Craftsmanship
Company Ownership:
Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence, Tuscany, in 1921 and has over 550 locations around the world.
Leather design grew on Gucci. His interest really started when he began working in luxury hospitality in Savoy, London. He thought often of how he could use leather for high fashion items. He established his first shop in 1920 selling fine leather goods with classic styling. It started out as the most successful of high-end leather goods in its day.
In the 1940s leather was in short supply as a result of the League of Nations’ embargo on Italy’s Fascist dictatorship and the war, so Gucci began to look for alternatives. It was at this the time Gucci Bamboo bag was born.
In 1951 the signature hallmark colors of Gucci were born: the colors red and green. The colors were influenced by the opening of their first store in Milan by his son Rodolfo.
Fashion Design was also a passion of his sons Aldo, Vasco, Ugo and Rodolfo. When Guccio Gucci died in 1953, they took over and developed an equestrian line along with the other leather goods Gucci was famous for. They were also instrumental in making the intertwined double G’s a registered trademark.
Gucci is known internationally and has stores worldwide. Opening stores in the United States has been a good thing for Gucci because President’s wives and Hollywood stars have brought inspiration to the designing of many new leather bag collections, like the Jackie O Bag, The Boston Bag, and The Hysteria Bag.
Today Gucci is being led by Alessandro Michele, director of creative design, who is reinventing a wholly modern approach to luxury fashion for the 21st century, further reinforcing its position as one of the world’s most desirable fashion houses.
Today Gucci continues to design real leather bags, briefcases, wallets, watch bands, cases and office and daily use accessories Made It Italy with real vegetable tanned leather . The shop’s craftsmanship continues to be a confirmed industry standard. Pride in innovation, detail, progressiveness and excellence in quality continues to be upheld.
In 2004, Gucci became part of Kering, a luxury fashion group seeking to further the usage of vegetable tanning leather processing to retain the important legacy of Made In Italy leather.
Product Lines: Leather Bags, Shoes, Of All Shapes And Sizes For Everyone, Jackets, Dresses, Skirts, Pants, Totes, Bags, Travel Bags, Belts, Backpacks, and Wallets
Notable Facts: Gucci is the highest-selling brand in Italy. In 2019 Forbes listed Gucci as #30 in the World’s Most Valuable Brands list. Gucci continues to reach out to help others as well donating over $7 million to UNICEF in the past five years. Gucci is UNICEF’s biggest donor. The Gucci Brand phenomena is matched with outstanding quality craftsmanship.
See The Gucci Craftsmanship
Each Artisan craftsman takes great pride and care in making each piece of Gucci. See how they do it.
Material Used:
Real Genuine Leather
Where It Comes From: Gucci is known for its real genuine leather products designed, cut and crafted in Italy. The leather used comes from Italy, France and other European Countries. The exotic skins such as python, crocodile, alligator and ostrich come from South Africa, Indonesia, Netherlands and Thailand.
In 2013 Gucci’s calf leather bags gained the recognition of being crafted using sustainable produced leather sourced from ranches in the Brazilian Amazon that have earned the Rainforest Alliance Certified seal of approval.
Gucci relies on its own python farm in Thailand for this exotic skin.
When Used: Calfskin is most commonly used for bags, shoes and jackets, and belts.
Lambskin is used for clothing items such as jackets, women’s skirts, shirts, and jogging and dress pants, men’s jackets and shirts, bags and backpacks.
Exotic skins are used most frequently for bags, shoes and small accessories.
Calf Skin
Gucci uses full grain calf skin rather than cowhide because the grain is tighter and the skin is more supple and so very soft. In fact it is so soft it feels a lot like velvet. The French describe it as veau velours which is French for “velvet calf”.
Calfskin is not as tough as cowhide, but is more scratch resistant. To ensure its full grain beauty is retained, the skin is vegetable tanned without the use of harsh chemicals. Natural calf skin has oils in it which adds to its long lasting beauty.
Though leather can get wet, it is best to protect it from getting rain soaked because when the wetness dries it draws out some of the natural oils
Gucci uses calfskin for jackets, skirts, dresses, dress and jogging pants, bags of many styles and sizes, and shoes.
Lambskin Leather
Lambskin feels soft and supple like calfskin, but looks even more luxurious. Since it is so soft, care must be taken because scratches show up more.
Lambskin is also vegetable tanned to retain its natural look and preserve its natural very tight grain. Lambskin flows and fits the shape of the body more easily.
Gucci uses lambskin for women’s dresses, jackets, skirts, and jogging and dress pants. As for men’s attire it is used for dressy shirts and jackets.
Some handbags and backpacks are also made of lambskin even though it does not retain a sturdy shape as well as calfskin.
Suede
Suede is the underside of the calfskin with the very soft velvety look and feel. Its look of nap comes from sanding the inner layer of the skin.
Calfskin suede is a very tight fiber texture which makes it look much richer than cowhide suede which gives a shaggy look. Since calfskin suede fiber is very tight it can resist moisture easier; however it is not meant to get wet to retain its natural beauty.
Gucci uses suede for shoes, boots and some handbags.
Python Skin
Gucci gets python skin from its own snake farm in Thailand. This prevents killing snakes crawling in the wild.
Python skin goes through an extensive tanning process though it takes less time than animal hide tanning. First the skin is removed and dry salted for preservation. Then it is soaked for cleaning, limed for descaling and raising the acidity; the bone matter is removed and several tanning steps are performed to soften the leather. Just before the last step of shaving, the skin is dyed.
Python leather is truly beautiful. Gucci uses it for bags of many shapes and sizes, shoes, boots and belts. Their python goods are definitely high-fashion.
Crocodile
Gucci’s crocodile leather comes from Kering’s France Droco Périers in Normandy, France and some from Metcro, a Croc farm in South Africa, the initial suppler of all the crocodile skins.
The tanning process of the crocodile leather is very environmentally friendly with an emphasis on using all natural materials during the tanning process without the use of harsh metals and chemicals. Initially the skins are cleaned removing the salt and preservatives which allow the skin to re-absorb some of its lost water and dissolve out some soluble proteins. Next, the scraping or fleshing stretches the skin as well as cleans the flesh side. Tanning uses a variety of oils and fats to lubricate the leather which is then dried and colored. The process is much more detailed but those who perform the process know how to carefully perform each step so the end result is crocodile leather pliable enough to make the finished luxurious leather products.
Alligator
The tanning process of the alligator leather is very similar to crocodile leather except that alligator skin has no sensitive hair in each scale to remove during the tanning process.
Both crocodile and alligator skins look very similar because they both have larger rounded square scales across their bellies which is the softest part of the skin. The big difference between the skins is the transition between the large and small scales. For Alligator skins their is no transition; it happens suddenly. For Crocodile skins the transition is gradual.
Alligator skins look very exquisite when used for making bags and wallets which is Gucci’s primary usage of them; however alligator skin is also used to make shoes, boots, slippers and belts.
Real Ostrich
Owning a Gucci Ostrich bag is fun because the feel of the bumps with their small pores on the top where the feathers grew is very distinguishable. In addition to the quill or feather sockets, the leather is soft, flexible and durable. Ostrich leather is one of the toughest because it has three layers that are interwoven, but yet it remains pliable because it is full of natural oils and therefore resists drying, cracking and stiffness. Over time its luxurious and genuineness increase.
Because it is a luxury leather and very expensive, some companies have tried to make a man made material look like; however it is impossible to recreate the natural feel of the bumps.
Gucci uses real ostrich leather to make handbags, wallets and other small accessories.
Gucci Leather Products
Gucci is known for its real genuine leather products made with a variety of leather types including Calf Skin, Lamb Skin, Crocodile, Alligator, Python and Ostrich Leather.
These leathers are designed by their finest skilled artisans to craft products that will be your lifelong companions. They represent the quality of leather that is naturally tanned rather than heavily chemically tanned.
- Bags – Casual, Office and Travel; Styles Include Messenger, Briefcase, Portfolio, Shoulder, Cross Body, Clutch, Backpack, Travel, Satchel, Briefcase, Bowling, Duffel, Portfolio, and Tote
- Clothing – Jackets, Dresses, Skirts, Jogging Pants, Dress Pants
- Accessories – Belts, Wallets, Coin Cases, Coin Purses, Watch Bands,, Portfolios, Money Clips, Card Cases, Passport Cases, Checkbook Covers, and Smart Watchbands