Loewe (fashion brand)

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LOEWE
Sociedad Anónima
Industry Apparels, accessories
Founded 1846; 178 years ago (1846)
Founder Enrique Loewe y Roessberg
Headquarters Madrid, Spain
Key people
 Jonathan Anderson
(Creative director)
Pascale Lepoivre
(CEO)
Products Clothing, cosmetics, fashion accessories, jewelry, perfumes, watches
Revenue Increase US$341.1 million (2018)[1]
Increase US$13 million (2018)[1]
Number of employees
 Increase 1,300 (2018)[2]
Parent LVMH Moët Hennessy - Louis Vuitton S.A.
Website www.loewe.com

Loewe (/ˈloʊɛv/, Spanish: [loˈeβe])[3] (stylized as LOEWE) is a Spanish luxury fashion house specialising in leather goods, clothing, perfumes and other fashion accessories. Founded in 1846, Loewe approaches 175 years as LVMH's oldest luxury fashion house.[4]

The company was established in 1846 when a group of Spanish leather craftsmen in Madrid were joined by Enrique Loewe, a merchant of Hessian origin. By the early 20th Century, many notable people took great interest in Loewe and Queen Ena became a regular customer. In 1905, Alfonso XIII granted them the Royal Warrant of Appointment and thus Loewe became Purveyor of the Royal Household of Spain. The company quickly grew in popularity and was promoted by figures such as Ernest Hemingway, Ava Gardner, Rita Hayworth, Marlene Dietrich and Sophia Loren amongst others.[5]

History

File:Loewe 1905 Franzen.JPG
A Loewe boutique in Madrid, 1905

Loewe was founded in 1846 in Madrid by a group of Spanish leather craftsmen, and the brand originated in 1876 when Enrique Loewe y Roessberg, a German craftsman, joined the group.[6]

King Alfonso XIII of Spain granted Enrique Loewe y Hinton, a descendant of the original brand founder, the title of Purveyor to the Royal Court. His wife, Queen Victoria Eugenie, frequently visited the store on Príncipe de Madrid street.[7]

By the 1970s, Loewe was expanding into perfumes and fashion with the creation of the Loewe logo, first designed by Karl Lagerfeld. Giorgio Armani and Laura Biagiotti subsequently designed Loewe's womenswear collections.[8]

In 1986, LVMH bought the rights to Loewe's international distribution.[8] It acquired Loewe completely in 1996. That year, Loewe had sales of about $200 million, among the smallest of LVMH's companies; ready-to-wear was responsible for 10 percent of that total.[9] By 1997, Narciso Rodriguez joined the company as new creative director[10] and the brand had its first Paris runway presentation at LVMH headquarters in the fall/winter 1998 season.[11] Both José Enrique Oña Selfa (2000-2007)[8] and Stuart Vevers (2008-2013)[12][13] followed. During Vever's tenure, Loewe scaled back fashion to concentrate on handbags, leather apparel and a substantial gift business based on leather picture frames and leather boxes.[14]

Jonathan Anderson became Loewe's creative director in 2013.[15] His first ready-to-wear collections for Loewe were presented in 2014. He has also been deploying a series of publicity campaigns by Steven Meisel and Damien Ropero for the stilllife.[16]

Since 2014, Loewe's headquarters – including the design team, which had previously been based in Madrid – has been located on Place Saint-Sulpice in Paris.[17] The company remains based in Spain. Manufacture, particularly of leather goods, takes place in Barcelona and Getafe, near Madrid.[18]

File:Hilton Osaka01s2400.jpg
Loewe in Osaka, Japan

The current King of Spain's mother, Queen Sofía, has been seen several times with Loewe handbags.[citation needed]

File:HK 尖沙咀 TST 人文藝術購物館 K11 MUSEA mall Salisbury Road entrance November 2019 SS2.jpg
Loewe store in Hong Kong

Locations

Loewe stores are located worldwide. In 2014, Loewe’s 143 stores were concentrated mainly in Spain and Japan, which respectively had 37 and 27 locations.[19] The first London shop opened in 1963,[8] on Mayfair's Mount Street.[20] 

Loewe opened its first American outpost in New York – a three-story shop at the Trump Tower[21] – in 1983;[22] it closed in 1993.[9] Today, the company has three stores in the US, located in Miami's Design District (since 2016),[14][23] at the Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas (since 2018) and in New York (since 2019).[24]

In 2016, Loewe opened Casa Loewe Madrid, the brand’s first flagship in Madrid and – with 10,750 square feet (999 square metres) – its largest store in the world. It is located in the ground floor of the company's head office in a landmark 19th-century building.[25]

File:HK CWB Times Square mall shop Loewe July-2014 RedMi handbag logo.jpg
A leather handbag of Loewe in the Times Square store

Loewe Foundation

In 1988, Enrique Loewe y Lynch, great-grandchild of the firm's creator, founded the Loewe Foundation, a private cultural foundation that supports cultural events and exhibitions.[26] The foundation received a Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts from the Spanish government in 2002.[27] Following an initiative of designer Jonathan Anderson, the Loewe Foundation Craft Prize was established in 2017.[28]

Branding evolution

Evolution of the Loewe logo
until 2014
until 2014 

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Jamie Huckbody (17 October 2002), The king of leather The Independent.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Constance C.R. White (17 June 1997), Rodriguez Joins Loewe New York Times.
  10. ↑ Suzy Menkes (17 June 1997), In Fashion Chess, More New Moves International Herald Tribune.
  11. ↑ Miles Socha (26 September 2014), NARCISO RODRIGUEZ: BRINGING N.Y. SMARTS TO LVMH’S LOEWE Women's Wear Daily.
  12. ↑ Stuart Vevers named Creative Director of Loewe LVMH, press release of 26 July 2007.
  13. ↑ Eric Wilson (24 June 2013), Vevers Lands Top Spot at Coach New York Times.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 Miles Socha (26 September 2014), Jonathan Anderson Preps Loewe for Next Chapter Women's Wear Daily.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Matthew Schneier (25 June 2014), A Provocateur Prepares to Show His Quiet Side New York Times.
  18. ↑ Miles Johnson (29 November 2012), Domestic production: Profitability begins at home as companies tap rich skill base Financial Times.
  19. ↑ Miles Socha (26 September 2014), Jonathan Anderson Preps Loewe for Next Chapter Women's Wear Daily.
  20. ↑ Jo Ellison (26 April 2019), Loewe, luxury and the enduring allure of London’s Bond Street Financial Times.
  21. ↑ Anne-Marie Schiro (7 February 1983), A NEW WAVE OF BOUTIQUES ROLLS IN FROM EUROPE New York Times.
  22. ↑ Bernadine Morris (21 September 1983), Loewe Leather Arrives New York Times.
  23. ↑ Tilly Macalister-Smith (3 December 2015), Loewe opens new store-cum-gallery in Miami’s Design District Wallpaper.
  24. ↑ Katherine Bernard (19 December 2019), Loewe Opens a Store New York Times.
  25. ↑ Miles Socha (17 November 2016), ‘Think Loewe,’ Jonathan Anderson Tells Spain Women's Wear Daily.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Caroline Roux (12 July 2019), Loewe Foundation Craft Prize showcases contemporary innovation Financial Times.

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