FACTS LOUIS VUITTON
Louis Vuitton's Biography
Louis Vuitton, (born August 4, 1821, Anchay, France—died February 27, 1892, Asnières-sur-Seine), French box maker and entrepreneur who founded his namesake brand of luxury trunks and luggage in 1854. During his lifetime, Vuitton introduced a number of innovations to luggage, and his brand later grew to become one of the most valuable and recognized fashion houses in the world. It is now known for leather goods as well as clothing, jewelry, accessories, and other high-end products.
In 1854 Vuitton married Clemence-Emilie Parriaux and soon afterward left Maréchal’s employment. He opened his own workshop in Paris near the Place Vendôme, where many fashion houses and jewelry firms were located. Vuitton advertised his specialty in packing fashions and fragile objects. In 1858 he introduced the rectangular-shaped trunk with a flat lid. Traditionally, trunks were made with dome-shaped tops, which allowed rain and mud to roll off as luggage was transported on the backs of stagecoaches. Vuitton, noticing the main modes of traveling were becoming the train and ocean liner, produced the flat lid for easier stacking and shipping. He also replaced the leather, which was heavy and often cracked, with lightweight wood covered in Trianon gray canvas, a fabric Vuitton designed to be waterproof and stain resistant.
High demand for the stackable, flat-lid trunk prompted Vuitton to move his workshop to a larger space in Asnières (now known as Asnières-sur-Seine), a village northwest of Paris. Its location on the Seine River and near a railway line allowed for convenient river and rail transport of finished products as well as the delivery of raw materials. Vuitton, his wife, and his son, Georges, resided in a space above the workshop.
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