Hermes was founded in the early 19th century by a man named Thierry Hermes, who ran the business as a saddlery. Ever since Hermes's founding in 1837, it has been owned and administrated by a member of the Hermes clan. During the late 1920s, the company first manufactured its silk scarves. These scarves quickly grew to define haute couture. Hermes established a special scarf factory in 1937 in the French town of Lyons. Today, the company puts out two special scarf collections every year. These scarves typically retail at around $300, but rare collection scarves from earlier years can sell for thousands. A typical Hermes scarf is approximately 75 grams in weight and 90 centimeters squared. All told, Hermes has put out more than 25,000 scarf designs. Hermes uses a sophisticated multiple screening technique to weave scarves made from mulberry moth cocoons. In the 1980s, Hermes sold scarves at a rate of approximately one million per year. Famous personages to wear Hermes scarves include Madonna, Hillary Clinton, Jackie Onassis, Grace Kelly, and Queen Elizabeth II. The company also manufactures fine silk ties, which are also made from woven mulberry moth cocoons. Thanks in large part to the TV program Sex and the City, Hermes has seen a tremendous rise of demand for its Birkin bag. These bags are stitched out of unique leathers. Handmade Birkin bags often include platinum and gold detailing, and it can take as long as two years to make it through the waiting list to get genuine Birkin bags. However, another Hermes offering, the Kelly bag, has been perennial favorite since the 1950s, when namesake Grace Kelly chose it as her signature handbag. |
