How Louis Vuitton got started

When Louis Vuitton (I am talking about the man, not the monogram) left for Paris on foot from Anchay, France, at the age of 14, this young man could never have imagined the fashion craze he would one day achieve. Today, 150 years later, his beloved handbags are coveted by the upper-class from Beyonce to Renee Zellweger. The Murakami alone made more than $300 million per year.

The young Vuitton, who apprenticed with a Parisian trunkmaker before getting a job as Empress Eugenie’s packer, struck gold when the arrival of steam engines and ocean liners created a frenzy for fashionable trunks. Vuitton’s idea is to make them stackable and waterproof and, later, to cover them in monogram canvas–was a hit. Soon a Who’s Who of well-heeled world leaders was buying up Vuitton bed trunks and wardrobe cases. Even Coco Chanel himself couldn’t resist the desire to order one of the first Vuitton monogram handbags. Today it’s difficult to walk through a shipping mall or down an high street without seeing an Louis Vuitton logo.