The story
Founded by Thierry Hermès in 1837, in Paris.1
History
Beginnings in the 19th century
Thierry Hermès was born on 10 January 1801 in Krefeld (in what is now Germany) to a French father and a German mother. He settled in 1829 in Pont-Audemer, Normandy, a town known for working hides, where he was employed as an apprentice to a saddler and harness maker. Having become a master craftsman, he returned to Paris in 1837, where he opened his first workshop near the church of La Madeleine. He designed, made and sold high-quality harnesses and other equipment for horses. Hermès won several awards, including a first-class medal at the 1867 Exposition Universelle, which gave him access to a prestigious clientele, including world leaders such as Tsar Nicholas II. He died in Neuilly-sur-Seine in 1878.
In 1880, Charles-Émile Hermès, Thierry's son, took over the direction of the company. He moved it to 24 rue du Faubourg-Saint-Honoré, where Hermès International is still headquartered. In 1889, assisted by his two sons, Adolphe and Émile-Maurice, he added other products for riders, such as horse blankets and silk helmets. They succeeded their father in 1902, creating Hermès Frères. Shortly after, Émile-Maurice began furnishing the emperor of Russia with saddles. Émile-Maurice also created the Haut à Courroies bag for horsemen to carry their saddle and boots.
During World War I, Émile-Maurice traveled to the United States. The country was booming, and transportation, particularly the automobile, was progressing. On his return, he and his brother applied their saddlery expertise, including saddle stitch sewing, to the expanding luggage market. He also returned from this trip with the zipper technology, which he introduced to leather goods and fashion. Subsequently, Émile-Maurice was granted the exclusive rights to use the zipper for leather goods and clothing. In 1918, Hermès introduced the first leather golf jacket with a zipper, made for Edward, Prince of Wales. The zipper became known in France as the fermeture Hermès (Hermès fastener).
Hermès Frères era
In 1919, Émile-Maurice Hermès bought out his brother and became the sole proprietor. He extended the business to travel accessories, sports, automobiles, jewellery, and fashion. In 1922, the first leather handbags were introduced after Émile-Maurice's wife complained of not being able to find one to her liking. Émile-Maurice created the handbag collection himself. In the 1920s and 1930s, the designer Lola Prusac created and developed a line of clothing adapted to the emerging beach and mountain sports. Hermès fashion then appealed to an affluent clientele of all nationalities.
In the 1930s, Émile-Maurice's three sons-in-law, Robert Dumas, Jean René Guerrand, and Francis Puech, joined the company and created the ladies' bag with straps, which was revisited and christened the Kelly bag in the 1950s. Guerrand developed the perfumery business, while Dumas spearheaded the development of leather goods and silk. It was during World War II that orange, imposed by shortages and stockouts caused by the German occupation of France, became the official color of the house. At the same time, Émile-Maurice Hermès chose the drawing Duc attelé, groom à l'attente, by Alfred de Dreux to illustrate the Hermès logo.
In 1924, Hermès established a presence in the United States and opened two shops outside of Paris. In 1929, the first women's couture apparel collection was previewed in Paris. During the 1930s, Hermès introduced some of its most recognized original goods such as the leather "Sac à dépêches" in 1935, and the Hermès carrés (square scarves) in 1937. The scarves became integrated into French culture. In 1938, the "Chaîne d'ancre" bracelet and the riding jacket and outfit joined the classic collection. By this point, the company's designers began to draw inspirations from paintings, books, and objets d'art. The 1930s also witnessed Hermès's entry into the United States market by offering products in a Neiman Marcus department store in New York; however, it later withdrew. In 1949, the same year as the launch of the Hermès silk tie, the first perfume, "Eau d'Hermès", was produced.
From the mid-1930s, Hermès employed the Swiss watchmaker Universal Genève as the brand's designer of timepieces, producing a line of men's wrist chronographs (manufactured in 18K gold or stainless steel) and women's Art Déco cuff watches in 18K gold, steel, or platinum. Both models contained dials signed either "Hermès" or "Hermès Universal Genève", while the watch movements were signed "Universal Genève S.A". The Hermès/Universal partnership lasted until the 1950s.
Émile-Maurice summarized the Hermès philosophy during his leadership as "leather, sport, and a tradition of refined elegance."
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Post-Émile-Maurice Hermès
Robert Dumas took over as head of Hermès on the death of his father-in-law in 1951, while closely collaborating with his brother-in-law Jean-René Guerrand. He introduced original handbags, jewelry, and accessories, and was particularly interested in design possibilities with the silk scarves. During the mid-20th century, scarf production diminished.
A few years after the 1947 creation of Comptoir Nouveau de la Parfumerie, launched on the initiative of Jean-René Guerrand, the house's first perfumes were produced in France, such as the perfume Calèche in 1961. Eau d'Hermès, created by Edmond Roudnitska in 1951, harked back to the company's origins, its fragrance recalling that of leather.
In the 1950s, the Kelly bag, then simply called a lady's small strap bag, found its name when a photograph of Grace Kelly, the new princess of Monaco wearing the bag, was published in Life magazine and went around the world. The late 1960s saw the appearance of the first women's ready-to-wear lines, designed by Catherine de Károlyi. The company made its international debut, opening stores in Europe, Asia, and the United States.
Expansion under Jean-Louis Dumas
Jean-Louis Dumas, the son of Robert Dumas-Hermès, joined the family firm in 1964. He took over in 1978 and developed new businesses within Hermès. He created the watchmaking subsidiary La Montre Hermès, in Bienne, Switzerland, and acquired the English John Lobb Bootmaker, glass manufacturer Saint-Louis and goldsmith Puiforcat. From the 1980s, tableware became a strong segment of the firm. And, overall, the collection of Hermès goods expanded in 1990 to include over 30,000 pieces. New materials used in the collection included porcelain and crystal.
The first advertising campaign, featuring a young girl in jeans wearing a silk square, marked the desire to appeal to a new clientele and broke with the house's traditional codes. In 1984, a discussion with his neighbor during a flight from Paris to London, Jane Birkin, led him to design the Birkin Bag. The Birkin Bag, or simply "Birkin," was inspired by how Jane Birkin would carry her items in a large, woven basket. Jean-Louis Dumas also recruited new talent such as designer Martin Margiela to modernize the ready-to-wear collections. Hermès then relocated its workshops and design studios to Pantin, just outside Paris.
Growth
In 1989, Hermès became a limited partnership, before being listed on the Stock Exchange four years later. At the time, the equity sale generated great excitement. The 425,000 shares floated at FFr 300 (US$55 at the time) were oversubscribed by 34 times. Dumas told Forbes magazine that the equity sale would help lessen family tensions by allowing some members to liquidate their holdings without "squabbling over share valuations among themselves." To this time, the Hermès family was still retaining a strong hold of about 80% in stocks, placing Jean-Louis Dumas and the entire family on the Forbes list of billionaires. Mimi Tompkins of U.S. News & World Report called the company "one of Paris' best guarded jewels."
In the following years, Dumas decreased Hermès' franchises from 250 to 200 and increased company-owned stores from 60 to 100 to better control sales of its products. The plan was to cost about FFr 200 million in the short term but to increase profits in the long term. Having around FFr 500 million to invest, Hermès pressed ahead, targeting China for company-operated boutiques, finally opening a store in The Peninsula Beijing in 1997. By the late 1990s, Hermès continued to diminish the number of franchised stores, buying them up and opening more company-operated boutiques. The fashion industry was caught off guard in September 1999, when Jean-Louis decided to pay FFr 150 million for a 35% stake in the Jean-Paul Gaultier fashion house.
The 2000s
Hermès acquired a 35% stake in Jean Paul Gaultier in 1999. In 2004, Jean-Paul Gaultier was appointed head of women's ready-to-wear, succeeding Martin Margiela. He remained there for seven years and Hermès eventually sold its shares to the Spanish group Puig. Also in 2004, Jean-Claude Ellena became the in-house perfumer or "nose" and has created several successful scents, including the Hermessence line of fragrances. This was followed by the acquisition of several plants to secure supplies of raw materials, but also tanneries, including Tannerie d'Annonay, bought out from its employees in 2013 and Tanneries du Puy-en-Velay, bought out from shoemaker J. M. Weston in 2015. From the 2010s, Hermès also stepped up the number of factories it opened in France, particularly for leather goods. This was done to meet growing demand for products that each require many hours of work, but also to maintain a high level of quality by taking advantage of French craftsmanship.
Jean-Louis Dumas retired from the group for health reasons in 2006 and appointed Patrick Thomas, with whom he had managed the company in tandem since 2004, as head of Hermès International. Thomas became the first Hermès executive from outside the founder's family. Pierre-Alexis Dumas, son of Jean-Louis Dumas, became artistic director of Hermès. In thirty years, Hermès sales will have risen from 42 million in 1978 to 1.9 billion euros in 2009. Jean-Louis Dumas died in Paris on 1 May 2010 at the age of 72.
On 23 October 2010, the LVMH group took a stake in Hermès to around 17.1%, with no official desire to take control. A financial battle ensued, with the heirs of the Hermès family suspecting Bernard Arnault, LVMH's majority shareholder, of wanting to take total control of the family business. Hermès management then clarified that its status as a management limited partnership protected it from any hostile financial operations, such as a takeover.
A new holding company, named "H51", made up of 52 of the main shareholder heirs and holding 50.2% of Hermès capital, was created in 2011 to counter the LVMH group. Julie Guerrand, from the 6th generation, took the helm. This new entity requires each person with at least 0.5% of the capital to declare his or her name, as the company's management wants to know now who owns what. At the end of 2014, the confrontations between LVMH and Hermès came to an end with an agreement signed between the two groups. The majority of Hermès shares acquired by LVMH were redistributed to its own shareholders, including the holding company of Bernard Arnault. At the end of December 2016, the descendants of Thierry Hermès collectively owned 65.1% of the share capital of Hermès International S.A. In 2017, Arnault announced the sale of his remaining shares in Hermès.
The Axel Dumas era
In 2012, the company posted sales of 3.5 billion euros. That year, sales were divided between five zones: 16% for France, 17% for America, 20% for Europe (excluding France), 12% for Japan, and 33% for Asia, excluding Japan. In 2013, Axel Dumas, a member of the 6th generation of Thierry Hermès descendants, was appointed managing director of Hermès International, replacing Patrick Thomas. He had been successively France sales director, then managing director of the jewelry and leather goods-saddlery divisions before becoming managing director of the group operations in 2011. Under his leadership, the decision was taken to expand the company's production and distribution capacities. Hermès announced an increase in its turnover of 9.7 percent, representing more than €4 billion in sales. In March 2018, Hermès opened a multi-story shop at the Dubai Mall. In 2019, the brand was ranked 33rd in the Forbes List "World's Most Valuable Brands". The company officially joined the CAC 40 in June 2018, with 57 billion euros in market capitalization. compared with 600 million euros when it went public in 1993.
Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, the group saw sales fall by 7% and net income by 9% in 2020. Nevertheless, it resumed a sustained pace of growth the following year, and announced a net income of 2.445 billion euros on sales of 9 billion euros, higher figures than before the pandemic. The 2021 review of WIPO's annual World Intellectual Property Indicators ranked Hermès 7th in the world for the 68 industrial design registrations that were published under the Hague System during 2020. This position is significantly up on their previous 15th-place ranking for their 27 industrial design registrations published in 2019. In 2021, the group reported a net profit of €2.445 billion and €9 billion in sales, achieving an operating margin of 39.3%. These results surpassed pre-pandemic figures. Hermès also entered the EURO STOXX 50.
In March 2022, after the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War, Hermès announced the suspension of its activities in Russia. About 60 employees were affected across three stores. In 2024, Hermès' net profit reached €4.6 billion, with a 40.5% operating margin. Sales growth spanned all regions, totaling €15.2 billion. Analysts suggest this resilience is due to Hermès impeccable brand image, storytelling, and positioning, as well as citing the broader consumer interest in "quiet luxury". Hermès presented "Hermès in the Making," a traveling exhibition across France, showcasing its artisanal craftsmanship. Also in 2023, the company won a copyright lawsuit against American artist Mason Rothschild, who replicated and sold the Birkin bag as an NFT collection. In the same year, the group announced four new production sites in France: Espagnac, Loupes, Riom, and Charleville-Mézières.
In 2025, the group's revenue reached 16 billion euros, with a net profit of 5 billion euros.
In October 2025, British designer Grace Wales Bonner was announced as Hermès' creative director of men's ready-to-wear. She is set to present her first collection for the brand in January 2027.
The Hermès Foundation
The corporate foundation Hermès was created in 2008 on the initiative of Pierre-Alexis Dumas. Its vocation is to support actions in favor of artistic creation and the transmission of know-how, solidarity and the preservation of biodiversity. It develops its own programs such as exhibitions and artist residencies for the visual arts. In 2016, for example, the foundation was behind Manufacto, a program to raise awareness of workmanship among the younger generation in schools. Students design their own objects such as stools or lamps, discovering the techniques, gestures and tools of craftsmen. The foundation operates several contemporary art spaces, including La Verrière in Brussels, Belgium, Le Forum in Tokyo, Japan, and Atelier Hermès in Seoul, South Korea.
The foundation also created the Émile Hermès prize in 2007, which rewards an innovative project in the field of design every two years.
Financial information
Hermès International is listed on Euronext Paris and is a component of the CAC 40:
Shareholder structure
Hermès International is controlled, through Emile Hermès SAS, by the Hermès family group, which also holds, notably through H51 SAS, a majority stake in the company's share capital as an active partner. The Hermès family fortune was estimated in 2024 at 155 billion euros by the magazine Challenges.
As of March 12, 2025:
From Wikipedia’s article on Hermès, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.5