Top 10 Most Popular & Expensive Clothing Brand

Gucci

Gucci is an Italian fashion and leather goods brand, part of the Gucci Group, which is owned by the French company Kering, formerly known as PPR. Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921. Gucci generated about €4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 according to BusinessWeek magazine and climbed to 41st position in the magazine’s annual 2009 “Top Global 100 Brands” chart created by Interbrand. Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand. Gucci operates about 278 directly operated stores worldwide and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores.

In the year 2013, the brand was valued at US$12.1 billion, with sales of US$4.7 billion. In the Forbes list for 2013, Gucci was ranked the 38th most valuable brand. As of January 2015, the creative director is Alessandro Michele. In 1998, Guinness World Records cited the Gucci “Genius Jeans” as the most expensive pair of jeans in existence. These jeans were distressed, ripped and covered with African beads and were offered for sale for US$3,134 in Milan. This record was surpassed in June 2005 by Levi Strauss & Co.’s 115-year-old 501 jeans that sold to an anonymous Japanese collector for $60,000.

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Chanel

Chanel S.A. is a French, privately held company owned by Alain and Gerard Wertheimer, grandsons of Pierre Wertheimer, who was an early business partner of the couturière Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel. Chanel S.A. is a high fashion house that specializes in haute couture and ready-to-wear clothes, luxury goods and fashion accessories. In her youth, Gabrielle Chanel gained the nickname Coco from her time as a chanteuse. As a fashion designer, Coco Chanel catered to women’s taste for elegance in dress, with blouses and suits, trousers and dresses, and jewellery of simple design, that replaced the opulent, over-designed, and constrictive clothes and accessories of 19th-century fashion.

The Chanel product brands have been personified by fashion models and actresses, including Inès de la Fressange, Catherine Deneuve, Carole Bouquet, Vanessa Paradis, Nicole Kidman, Anna Mouglalis, Hope Portocarrero, Audrey Tautou, Keira Knightley and Marilyn Monroe. The House of Chanel is known for the “little black dress”, the perfume No. 5 de Chanel, and the Chanel Suit. Chanel’s use of jersey fabric produced garments that were comfortable and affordable. Chanel revolutionized fashion high fashion and everyday fashion  by replacing structured-silhouettes, based upon the corset and the bodice, with garments that were functional and at the same time flattering to the woman’s figure.

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Prada

Prada S.p.A. is an Italian luxury fashion house, specializing in ready-to-wear leather and fashion accessories, shoes, luggage, perfumes, watches, etc., founded in 1913 by Mario Prada. As of 2014, Prada is being investigated by Italian prosecutors for possible tax evasion after the luxury-goods company disclosed undeclared taxable income.

Prada SpA Chairman Miuccia Prada, Chief Executive Officer Patrizio Bertelli and accountant Marco Salomoni have been named in the probe, which is for possible undeclared or false tax claims. The chairwoman of Prada is facing an investigation after it was alleged the company avoided nearly £400million in tax by transferring services abroad. Italy’s Corriere della Sera newspaper said on Friday Prada and Bertelli had paid 420 million euros to Italy’s tax agency to settle their tax affairs. The paper also said the two were under investigation despite the settlement.

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Dolce and Gabbana

Dolce & Gabbana is an Italian luxury industry fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The two met in Milan in 1980 and worked for the same fashion house. In 1982 they established a designer consulting studio; in time it grew to become “Dolce & Gabbana”. They presented their first women’s collection in 1985 in Milan, where a year later their store would open its doors.

In 1988, they launched their leotard line, and in 1989 they began designing underwear and swimming costumes. Dolce & Gabbana started to export their products to Japan and other countries like the U.S., where they founded their own showroom in 1990. In 1992, the same year they presented their men’s collection, they also launched their first perfume Dolce & Gabbana. They won the Woolmark award in 1991, and the prize “most feminine flavor of the year” in 1993. Towards the end of the 1990s their sales were around 500 million dollars and in 2003 their revenue reached $633 million. By 2005, their turnover was €600 million.

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Armani

Giorgio Armani S.p.A. is an Italian fashion house founded by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, eyewear, cosmetics and home interiors. The brand markets these products under several labels, from the most expensive to the most accessible. Armani Prive, Giorgio Armani, Emporio Armani, Armani Collezioni, AJ | Armani Jeans, AX | Armani Exchange. The brand utilizes the association of the Armani name with high-fashion, benefiting from its prestige in the fashion industry.

By the end of 2005, estimated sales of the company were around $1.69 billion. Armani is the fastest growing fashion brand. Giorgio Armani is planning, in collaboration with Emaar Properties, a chain of luxury hotels and resorts in several big cities including Milan, Paris, New York, London, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Shanghai, Seoul, Dubai. The company already operates a range of cafés worldwide, in addition to a bar and nightclub.

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Marc Jacobs

Marc Jacobs is an American fashion designer. He is the head designer for Marc Jacobs, as well as Marc by Marc Jacobs, a diffusion line, with over 200 retail stores in 80 countries. He was the creative director of the French design house Louis Vuitton from 1997 to 2013. Jacobs was on Time magazine’s “2010 Time 100″ list of the 100 most influential people in the world, and ranked number 14 on Out magazine’s 2012 list of “50 Most Powerful Gay Men and Women in America”.

He attended the High School of Art and Design and studied at the Parsons School of Design in New York. While at Parsons in 1984, Jacobs won the Perry Ellis Gold Thimble Award, Chester Weinberg Gold Thimble Award, and Design Student of the Year Award. He also won an award in 1991 from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. In Summer 2013, there were 285 Marc Jacobs retail stores in 60 countries. In 2013 December, the new Marc Jacobs flagship store opened in Shanghai. In March 2015, Marc Jacobs announced the end of his secondary brand Marc by Marc Jacobs in order to focus on the development of his main label Marc Jacobs and to target to more luxury oriented audience.

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Dior

Christian Dior S.A, commonly known as Dior, is a French luxury goods company controlled and chaired by businessman Bernard Arnault who also heads LVMH the world’s largest luxury group. Dior itself holds 42.36% shares of and 59.01% voting rights within LVMH.

Founded in 1946 by the eponymous designer Christian Dior, today the company designs and retails ready-to-wear, leather goods, fashion accessories, footwear, jewelry, timepieces, fragrance, make-up, and skincare products while also maintaining its tradition as a creator of recognized haute-couture. While the Christian Dior label remains largely for women’s offerings, the company also operates the Dior Homme division for men and the baby Dior label for childrenswear. Products are sold throughout its portfolio of retail stores worldwide, as well as through its online store via dior.com. Competitors to the House of Dior include, among many, the fashion houses of Chanel, Burberry, Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, and Prada.

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Guess

Guess is an American upscale clothing brand and retailer. Guess also markets other fashion accessories besides clothes, such as watches, jewelry and perfumes. The company also owns the line Marciano. During the 1980s Guess was one of the most popular brands of jeans. The company was one of the first companies to create designer jeans. While the first jeans were for women, in 1983 a men’s line debuted.

In 1984 Guess introduced its new line of watches known as “Guess”, “Guess Steel”, and the “Guess Collection”. The watch line is still in existence today, and has been joined by a number of other accessory sidelines. In 1984, they also introduced a line of baby’s clothes, called “Baby Guess”. The line is now incorporated with clothing for toddlers and kids called GUESS kids.

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Versace

Versus is the diffusion line of noted Italian fashion house Versace. It began in 1989 as the first of many diffusion lines by the house, a gift by the founder Gianni Versace to his sister, Donatella Versace. After closing in 2005, Donatella resurrected it in 2009 with a capsule collection of accessories designed by emerging British designer Christopher Kane, who is now co-creative director with Donatella. Created for those who want to evolve their own individual style, Gianni Versace introduced Versus in 1989 describing it as, “Versus was born with an innate creative approach, with a strong focus on innovation, flair and the unconventional.

An artistic force that takes present fashion forward, anticipating new trends and embracing challenge”. The following Versus collections of fashion, accessories, eyewear, watches, and fragrances proved to be an enormous success with a strong public following who were turned into its distinctive ‘rock-chic’ style. Today Versus is well known as Versace’s second line and as a brand. It is worn by many celebrities including Cheryl Cole, Leighton Meester, Miranda Cosgrove and Alexa Chung, and featured in and on the cover of many high-profile Fashion and lifestyle international magazines like Vogue, InStyle, ELLE and Glamour.

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Valentino

Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani, best known as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer and founder of the Valentino SpA brand and company. His main lines include Valentino, Valentino Garavani, Valentino Roma and R.E.D. Valentino. Valentino SpA is a clothing company founded in 1959 by Valentino Garavani. It is a part of Valentino Fashion Group.

Since October 2008, the creative directors are Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli. Alessandra Facchinetti was Valentino’s creative designer from 2007 to 2008. Valentino is headquartered in Milan. On July 12, 2012 the private equity firm Permira agreed to sell Valentino Fashion Group to Mayhoola for Investments, a Qatari investment group.