Giorgio Armani Biography Documentary Fashion Film Global Fashion Brand
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00:00 The Rich Rabbit
00:13 Emporio Armani was founded in 1975 by Giorgio Armani, one of the most influential and celebrated
00:21 fashion designers from Italy.
00:23 Armani provides quality, sophisticated and timeless style clothing ranging from luxury
00:30 garments, apparel, jewellery and aftershaves.
00:34 The company describes themselves as providing quality, sophistication and style timeless
00:40 values with global appeal.
00:43 Giorgio Armani was born on 11th of July 1934 and along with his brother and sister grew
00:50 up in the industrial town of Piacenza in northern Italy which was bombed repeatedly during the
00:56 World War II.
00:58 His sister Rosanna told Newsweek's Christopher Dickey that Armani spent 40 days in the hospital
01:04 when he was burned by a flare a classmate had found on the street.
01:11 The Armanis moved to Milan in 1949.
01:15 Armani went to medical school for two years but dropped out in 1957 to take a job as a
01:21 buyer for the La Rinascente department store, a job he held for about seven years.
01:27 He then worked as a fashion designer for hitman Nino Cerruti's men's clothing company before
01:33 establishing himself as a freelance designer in 1970.
01:39 Armani formed his own company Giorgio Armani on 24th of July 1975 at the suggestion of
01:45 his enthusiastic partner Sergio Gagliotte.
01:49 One story retold in Forbes has the pair selling their used Volkswagen for start-up capital.
01:56 Another version in a later edition of Forbes puts the start-up figure at $100,000.
02:03 The first products were ready-to-wear clothes for men and women.
02:06 The company was successful from the beginning.
02:09 First-year sales were $1 million.
02:13 In 1978, a licensing agreement with Gruppo Finanziario Tesile, or GFT, allowed Armani
02:20 to invest in a new headquarters building.
02:23 The building, a 17th-century palazzo at 21 Via Bogonnovo, Milan, would house not only
02:30 offices but a theater for fashion shows as well as Armani's personal residence.
02:36 Armani would be credited for inventing the Italian fashion industry, particularly in
02:41 Milan.
02:42 The next year, 1979, saw the establishment of the Giorgio Armani Corporation in the United
02:48 States.
02:49 Giorgio Armani would be counted among the world's leading fashion houses by the end
02:54 of the decade.
02:56 Part of the success was due to Armani's bold design gambles, which developed a more casual
03:02 cheek by such touches as removing padding from the traditional men's suit jacket.
03:08 Women's clothes were made more comfortable and less showy.
03:13 Other designers and knock-off artists would copy the look, but the original retained a
03:17 dedicated following.
03:20 The collection by this time had already been expanded to include several new lines such
03:25 as Mani, Armani Junior, and underwear and swimsuits.
03:30 Armani and Emporio Armani brands of jeans were launched in the early 80s, a decade known
03:36 for its designer jeans.
03:38 Emporio Armani was a lower-priced version of the flagship line.
03:42 Batiks for both the brands were soon opened in Milan.
03:46 Giorgio Armani was one of the first designers to exploit the marketing power of media stars.
03:53 He began a long relationship with Hollywood when he designed Richard Gere's wardrobe for
03:57 the 1980 film American Gigolo.
04:01 A string of other movie credits would accumulate throughout the next two decades, including
04:06 Batman and Pulp Fiction and, appropriately, Ready to Wear.
04:13 Armani was also responsible for much of the pastel wardrobe for the stars of Miami Vice,
04:18 the hit TV series of the late 80s.
04:21 Armani sponsored or provided wardrobes for the musical tours of several pop musicians,
04:26 including Paul Simon, Billy Joel, David Bowie, and Eric Clapton.
04:31 Gagliotti, Armani's partner and the one who had handled the day-to-day management, died
04:37 of AIDS in 1985 and left Armani his 50 percent interest in the firm.
04:44 Armani subsequently surprised some observers with his business sense.
04:48 He immediately set out to expand the Emporio Armani line beyond jeans.
04:53 In the next six years, Emporio sales increased from $75 million to $209 million.
05:01 A variety of new enterprises proliferated in the last half of the 80s.
05:06 The first Armani Junior store opened in Milan in 1986.
05:11 Giorgio Armani Japan, a joint venture with Japanese Itocho Corporation, was created in
05:17 1987.
05:19 The first Emporio Armani Express restaurant opened in London as the 80s drew to their
05:24 inevitable cross-branding conclusion.
05:27 Giorgio Armani also opened the restored Donny Bistro in Florence in 1989.
05:34 On another front, Emporio Armani magazine had begun publishing in January of the same
05:39 year.
05:40 Armani turned down a 1989 takeover offer by the Jean Leroy Design House.
05:46 Luxury conglomerates Gucci and LVMH were also offered to buy out Armani.
05:52 While competitors Prada and Gucci expanded through expensive acquisitions of other luxury
05:57 brands, Armani preferred to tighten its control on the production and marketing of its products.
06:04 The company began buying shares in its manufacturers, including Antenia and Intai, in 1989 and 1990.
06:12 Antenia had gross sales of $25 million and made women's clothes for the Emporio Armani
06:19 brand.
06:20 Intai, maker of Armani ties, grossed $16 million a year.
06:25 A Forbes cover story in October 1991 noted Giorgio Armani's meticulous attention to detail
06:32 throughout his fashion empire.
06:35 Armani's small group of intensely loyal advisors, including his sister Rosanna, held board meetings
06:41 with the passion of an Italian family argument.
06:45 The first Armani Exchange store, also known as AX, opened in New York's Soho district
06:51 in 1991.
06:53 The Exchange sold $90 jeans and $75 t-shirts, costly enough for weekend clothes but much
07:00 less pricey than the Armani boutique's dress clothes.
07:05 The clothes and stores were licensed to the U.S. Division of Cement, a publicly traded
07:09 company based in Modena, Italy, in which Armani held a 20% interest.
07:15 Bloomingdale's, Saks Fifth Avenue, Neiman Marcus and other U.S. department store chains
07:21 together opened another two dozen or so AX sections within their stores in 1992.
07:29 Despite initial projections of opening up to 150 freestanding AX stores, the venture
07:34 had begun to falter by 1994 when the chain had 41 outlets, resulting in a huge loss for
07:41 cement.
07:43 The economists blamed the large royalty, usually 10%, which went to the designer for each garment
07:49 sold.
07:51 Cement sold the AX chain to Ong Bang Sung, a Singapore-based company, for $12.5 million
07:58 in June 1994.
08:01 Armani later pursued the strategy of maintaining a very small number of these lower-priced
08:05 outlets to maintain the brand's allure as well as the profit margins he expected.
08:12 In fact, Armani was unique among brands in limiting the maximum amount of business its
08:17 licensees could each generate.
08:20 El Italia hired Armani to design new outfits for its flight attendants and the interiors
08:26 of its MD-11 airliners in the early 1990s.
08:30 The firm also designed the uniform for Italy's 1994 football World Cup team and those for
08:36 Britain's Newcastle United team in 1999.
08:41 In 1996, Armani opened two stores in Manhattan, one an Emporio Armani store and the other
08:49 the four-story flagship of the chain.
08:51 The first Collezione Giorgio Armani stores opened in Milan, London and Tokyo in 1997.
08:58 The same year, the first Armani Jeans store opened in Rome and Armani watches were also
09:04 introduced.
09:06 July 1997 was marked by the murder in Miami of Armani's fiercest rival in Milan, the
09:12 flamboyant Gianni Versace.
09:15 The next month, Armani was reported to be considering either taking his company public
09:21 or taking in a partner and the Armani Group underwent reorganization.
09:26 This cancelled an Emporio Armani fashion show in Paris on 12 March 1998 citing security
09:33 concerns.
09:34 To some, this affront seemed rather to be a sign of the long-standing rivalry between
09:40 the French and Italian fashion industries.
09:44 The Armani Group continued to roll out new categories of products.
09:49 An accessories division was created in 1999.
09:52 The first accessories store would open in Milan two years later.
09:57 Also in 1999, Armani entered e-commerce with ArmaniExchange.com and bought two menswear
10:04 factories from its long-time laissancee, GFT.
10:09 Consolidated revenue rose 12% in 1999, though net income fell 12% largely due to taxes on
10:17 a sale of shares held in Luxottica.
10:20 In 2000, Armani posted operating profits of 374 billion lira on consolidated net revenues
10:27 of 2 trillion lira, which were up 20% for the year.
10:32 Global retail sales exceeded 7 trillion lira.
10:36 During 2000, the company launched a joint venture with the Zegna Group called Trimel
10:41 to produce and distribute the Armani Collezione line of men's clothing.
10:46 Soon afterwards, Giorgio Armani Cosmetics debuted.
10:50 Armani Casa, a home fashion store, opened after years of planning.
10:54 A series of Armani-related websites were launched and plans for a new headquarters office were
10:59 underway.
11:01 During the year, Armani was honored with an exhibit at New York's Guggenheim Museum for
11:05 changing the way people dressed in the previous quarter century.
11:10 At this stage in his career, Armani was finding inspiration in the marriage of Eastern minimalism
11:15 and Western luxury.
11:17 The billionaire designer also honored himself in 2000 by opening a three-level, $73 million
11:23 megastore in Milan called Armani.
11:26 "I just wanted to give a present to myself on my 25th anniversary," he said at the opening.
11:33 The store carried not just clothes but flowers, books, food, especially sushi, and home furnishings.
11:41 The company was hit by the departure of several key executives, including managing director
11:46 Giuseppe Brozzone, who had been with Armani for 15 years.
11:50 He was later appointed to the CEO spot at Donna Karan International, a unit of LVMH.
11:57 In 2001, Giorgio Armani announced plans for a joint venture with Vestimenta, one of its
12:03 earliest licensees, to produce and distribute its top line of men's and women's clothes.
12:10 Armani was also acquiring control of its Hong Kong retail network from Joyce Boutique, holding
12:16 limited.
12:17 Armani continued to resist the trend towards consolidation in the luxury goods industry.
12:23 Over the years, Armani continually added new offerings to his company, introducing perfume,
12:29 accessories, a jeans line, the low-priced diffusion line Emporia Armani, sportswear,
12:35 and a limited-edition line of handmade couture dresses.
12:40 In 2001, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City presented a major retrospective of Armani's
12:47 work.
12:48 In 2002, Armani was appointed Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for
12:53 Refugees.
12:54 He designed the uniforms for the Italian flag bearers participating in the 2006 Winter Olympics
13:00 opening ceremony, as well as those of various professional athletic teams, including England's
13:06 Chelsea Football Club and Australia's Rabbitohs.
13:10 In 2007, Armani partnered with the electronics giant Samsung to create a luxury LCD television
13:17 and cellular phone as part of an expansion of his consumer lifestyle product line.
13:23 That same year, his Armani Prevé Spring/Summer Collection fashion show was broadcast worldwide
13:29 via Microsoft Corporation's MSN Web portal, as well as singular cellular phones.
13:36 This made him the first clothing designer to broadcast an haute couture fashion show
13:40 live on the internet.
13:42 Giorgio Armani, who once used to work at the departmental store in Milan, has a net worth
13:47 close to $9 billion.
13:50 This is the power of an idea, that's what dreams are capable of.
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