Hi everybody Louis Von is one of the most iconic luxury brands in the world but next to Apple no other company on the planet dominates their industry as completely as lb fashion luxury hotels Media Outlets all Under One Roof absolutely the leader of the luxury goods industry valued at more than $400.
Billion with some of the indust biggest names under its umbrella it’s the story of this company but also the story of this man Bernard Arno and while most people think of Louis Von as just another overrated brand that sells backs for 2 lakh rupees what we don’t realize is that Louis Von.
Is a luxury brand that was started by a homeless boy and it has sustained 200 years one Franco Prussian War 15 revolutions two world wars and 18 recessions including the Great Depression and while most people think of Louis Vuitton bags to be the liability of the rich you would be shocked to know that if you invested in.
This Louis Vuitton bag in 2007 for $625 or 25,000 rupes you would have got more returns than both gold and S&P index there are some who cite this to say that personal luxury could perhaps be a better investment than even gold While most associate lvmh with luxury handbags and fashion it’s about joining the dots and tracing the house back to its roots.
Luxury today is recreating in a sense the idea of elite the idea of masses the idea of uh a lifestyle that everybody wants to share from 2007 to 2024 while the price of gold shot up by 172% S&P went up by 167% whereas the price of this bag shot up by 214% which means you could very easily sell this bag in the secondary Market at.
A markup of 200% and lvms today is so so big and so powerful that it is more valuable than Hermes and even the parent companies of Gucci Prada and its next five comparators combined so this breaks the question how did a homeless boy go on to build the biggest luxury brand in the world why were Louis Von bags considered.
To be super special during the 19th century and what are the business lessons that we need to learn from the rise of Louis Von this video is brought 4 by 1% Club our education system does teach us how to make money but it doesn’t teach us how to handle or grow our wealth in fact stars like amitab ban and Michael.
Jackson have lost their fortunes because of mismanagement of money this is the reason why financial literacy is very very crucial the one person Club is founded by my dear friend sharan hegre and is backed by nikil Kut and they are here to help you Achieve Financial Independence at one person Club you can join and access 25 plus planning tools.
Connect with 50,000 plus members and and attend exclusive events to experience this the one person Club is organizing a 2hour personal finance Master Class by Finance with sharan it is trusted by more than 2 lakh members with a 4.8 rating this master class will teach you everything about personal finance from early retirement planning to mutual fund.
Investing to asset allocation and a lot more and for things school learners there is an exclusive discount of 50% on the master class so if you find this useful click the link below and join the 1 person club now this is a story that dates back to 1821 which is 200 years ago during that time.
France was under Louis the 18th this is when Louis vuon was born to a farmer and his wife who was a hat maker unfortunately his mother passed away when Louie was just 10 years old this is when his father remarried and Louie was Ill treated by his stepmother so at the age of just 13 Louis Vuitton left his home and traveled to Paris to earn a.
Living for himself and by 16 years of age he found a job with a man named Roman Marshall Roman was basically a box maker and Packer basically he specialized in making great bags and this is where Louis Vuitton got his fundamental skill of Designing great bags and you know what Louis Von worked for Romain for the next 17 long years.
And in these 17 years he mastered just one skill which is designing high quality bags and Louie was so good at his work that in 1853 which is 16 years into his profession he found a client who established his position in the entire French Market you know who it was it was the emess of France Eugene herself for those who don’t know she was.
The wife of Napoleon III and the nephew of the legendary Napoleon bonapart himself and at that time Napoleon theii had just declared himself as the emperor of France and during this time Louie became so close to the queen that he was her personal Packer who was responsible for both designing and trans exporting her luggages this is when Louis Vuitton.
Went from being an ordinary assistant to a renowned Craftman and designer in France so to capitalize on this name Louie established his own Workshop which specialized in designing bags for the richest people in France and soon enough people from all around the world including the visoy of Egypt came to buy Louis VTO bags so the question is what.
Was so special about Louis Von bags that the richest people in France flock to buy bags specifically from Louie well there were three very interesting gaps that Louis vuon found in the market firstly back then bags were made with thick pig skin and they looked something like this now these bags were very very durable but they were very very heavy so.
Even without packing the bags themselves were very heavy on top of that the pig skin used to crack after a certain point so after a certain point your bag would just start looking ugly secondly in 1858 the bags were traditionally made with to shaped tops and the thinking behind this design was that if mud or rain falls on the bags then mud and water would just.
Roll off the bag this design was specifically made for people who traveled by horse carriages but the catch over there was that by 1850s steam engine was becoming more and more popular and in the steam engine people did not have to worry about drains or dust in fact in the steam engine when the luggages needed to be stacked one on.
Top of the other these Dome shaped bags were not very functional because you couldn’t stack them on top of each other thirdly these bags were not watertight at all so if you’ve seen pig skin bags they can dle small amounts of water but eventually the bag will start absorbing water and it will ruin your clothes these were the three gaps that Lou.
Spotted in the French market and he realized that the perfect product would be a product that would be watertight light and had the design that was best suited for trains this is when ladies and gentlemen Louis Vuitton came out with an amazing product called the steamer trunk and this is what it looked like the steamer trunk was flat on the.
Top so you could stack one trunk or the other and he covered his bags with a canvas material with a glue-based treatment this made his bags both watertight and strain resistant and lastly it was made using popular wood with metal buckles and this made the bag both elegant and lightweight and this ladies and gentlemen was a revolutionary.
Concept back then just to make this more relatable do you remember when traveling by train our parents used to have these box type suitcases which were very very heavy to lift and then came these trolley bags which just changed everything forever so back then Louis Vuitton bags were as revolutionary as trolley bags are today so as usual.
Everybody who traveled by steam engine who are basically rich people of France they all flocked to buy Louis vuon bags this is how Louis vuon established himself as a luxury bag designer who designed highly functional bags that were light watertight and elegant but you know what guys just when Lou thought he could expand his business something.
Terrible happened in 1871 a major war broke out between the French and the prussians it is now known as the Franco Prussian war of 1871 so Prussia cut all routs to Paris bombarded the city with all their might and in the chaos of this war both Lou home and workshop were completely destroyed but even then Louie saw this as a massive opportunity you.
Know why because now Louie was able to spot a much better location for his shop so this time he set up his shop at a prime location called Opera this new shop was strategically close to Paris railway station and it was very close to the largest and the most luxurious hotel in Europe which goes by the name L Grand Hotel so do you realize he put his shop.
In The Sweet Spot of travel and residence of the richest people in France but this is where Louie faced another problem and this is something that every premium brand faces what is this problem every time something elegant and premium comes to the market fake and cheap products enter the market so the question is in spite of counter.
Feed and copy get products how did Louis Vuitton differentiate himself from the competition well this is where Louie got into his differentiation phase and just like Louie every brand reaches a point where they have to do something extra to push themselves ahead of their copy gats and this differentiation phase was led by Lou’s son who was named George witon.
And just like Louie George was a very very very sharp Observer and he observed something which put Louis vuon on a pedestal you know what he observed he observed that when Travelers traveled from one city to the other these Journeys used to take a very long time and the people who travel by train were usually rich people who had valuables.
Like paintings and jewells in their bags and sometimes even cash and important papers as a result theft became a big big problem in France so to solve this problem George and Louie started experimenting with different lock systems and within a few years they built the iconic unpickable lock of Louis vom and they designed a lock which.
Was so good that no thief in France could open it and you know what they made this Lo so good that they publicly challenged the famous magician and escape artist Harry Houdini to open one of their patented locks and since Houdini never accepted their challenge this act itself established Louis Vuitton locks to be the best in the.
Market so again all the rich people who carried property papers jewelry and paintings always bought from Louis Von and they were ready to pay a premium so this act again gave them both positioning and profits and you know what guys this lock is so good even today that after 134 Years also the essentials of the locking mechanism are.
Still used in the Louis Vuitton bags in 2024 but then again just like Louis Von multiple other brands came in with their own Locking System and started selling cheaper bags so guess what again George had to innovate now the question over here is how could a bag be made better other than providing great space and a lock so.
We’ve come to a saturation point over here right how could it be better it’s not like an iPhone that we can keep on innovating year on year right well guess what While most people saw bags just like you and me as yet another box which was meant to carry clothes and jewelry George Von made an observation that skyrocketed their sales and if you look.
At the detailing of his observation it will blow your mind about how somebody can think so deeply about a freaking luggage design and this is the reason why ladies and gentlemen Louis Vuitton became popular not just in France but all across the world the question is what exactly were these observations to help you understand his genius I will.
Show you three designs and with these three designs you will know the power of observation and market research the first and perhaps the most iconic design of all was a result of a very sharp observation made by George Wham he saw that even though the luggage they made was good-look light and secured there was one big big problem if a rich.
Businessman or woman made a trip to Paris with a suit shirt hat shoes and accessories or a dress shoes and accessories it would get very very messy for example if something is stacked on top of an iron shirt it ruins your press right or if your shoes touch your shirt it would again ruin your outfit right so George had to find a way to design a.
Luggage in such a way that all these items could be placed without spoiling each other and lastly if you’re traveling back with dirty clothes if both dirty and clean clothes are kept in the same trunk it would get messed up right so he also wanted to figure out a way by which he could segregate the spoiled clothes and new clothes so the.
Question is how did George vitton Design This iconic bag well this is where the design of IDL 1901 came in George designed a bag in such a way that it could keep your shirts on top the accessories on the side and then you can remove that compartment and keep your shoes and belt inside with a hat on the side similarly you could even keep dirty.
And clean clothes separately so do you realize this was a very very important feature for the rich people who were going to attend important meetings or events now you tell me guys if you were this rich person visiting France wouldn’t you pay 2x 3x the price for this amazing B bag you would right this is why both rich men and women of France.
And all around the world flock to buy Louis Vuitton bags specifically this is how Louis Vuitton started to be used by the richest and perhaps the most powerful people on Earth and here’s where the top of the pyramid effect comes into play when the richest people in the world when the most popular people in the world when the most.
Powerful people in the world use a particular product that product becomes aspirational and when something becomes aspirational it also commands a premium from the p people who are not of the top of the pyramid in the society as a result Louis Vuitton became aspirational for the people at the bottom and it became super functional for the people.
At the top and this brings us to the second design that George made and this was made during the automobile Revolution where people were transitioning from horses to cars in the early 1900s now if you look at cars back then they looked something like this by the way during this time Henry Ford was still in his startup stages so cars were.
Not cheap at all they were very very expensive they were designed by exclusive Engineers who were almost like craftmen and most importantly they were used by the richest people in the world just to give you a better idea while the labors earned anywhere between 1,000 to 2,000 Franks a skilled worker would earn between 2,000 to 4,000 Franks a year but.
The cars started from 4,000 Franks and went up to 30,000 Franks but you know what guys even in the most luxurious cars of all George noticed that these cars did not have a trunk or a boot Yes you heard that right back then there was no concept of a trunk at all and here’s where George saw a massive opportunity he realized that the bags he made for.
Steam engine would not be relevant for car travel so he went into the microscopic detail on how to design a bag for cars and guess what this is what he designed if you look at this car designed in the early 1900s they were very different from today’s design but here George found two spaces where he could design the perfect trunk one at.
The front and one at the back so he did not just design a trunk he designed specialized trunks which were far far beyond people’s imagination just to give you an example of the same look at this they designed a toilet set bag which could fit in all your accessories from perfume to watches to even mirrors in an organized way then they designed a.
Luggage that could accommodate picnic items for four people and six people and look at how well this is designed this could accommodate glasses at the top CER and plate in between and then other things at the bottom in fact if you look at these models they could contain a large quantity of items with almost like shelf like design wherein your back.
Literally transformed into a mini wardrobe similarly they made a tool chest for car repairs with either a compartment or a slot for every tool that you would use in fact I was stunned to know that Louis vuon even designed a trunk bag for first aid kits specifically wherein all your first aid items could be arranged properly.
And this was designed with the thought that in case if an emergency happens and you open your bag you should not keep fidgeting and keep looking for the most important items during a critical time so the items are so well arranged in the bag that in case if an emergency happens the moment you open the bag you will be able to spot the item that you require.
Within just 2 seconds now can you imagine the amount of detail that he has gone into guys it was just incredible I mean when you think about bags you do not think about bags so seriously in fact we are the users of these bags and yet we do not give so much thought to the bags that we use but then George V treated his bags like a work of art as a.
Result he was able to get into the micro details of the use cases because of which he was able to design great products in fact when I looked at these designs it felt like these products are way more functional than today’s bags and lastly I was shocked to know that George vitton even designed bags for air travel even before air travel became.
Common look at this in 1908 George wito proposed a project for an Unsinkable trunk called the aerot trunk this trunk could be attached to the basket of a hot air balloon and since sometimes the hot air balloon May land on water these bags were feather light and watertight so again every person who flew who was obviously Rich went on to buy a Louis.
VTO bag in fact even Beyond this George made a trunk that could be used as a wardrobe as a watch shelf and even a trunk that could turn into a cocktail bar and when I say rich people bought Louis Vuitton do you realize it’s not people like you and me it is everyone from billionaires to powerful politicians to even royal families this.
Is how Louie and George Von kept on innovating for the needs of the rich because of which LV got established as an iconic luxury brand in the market this is how George VTO carried his father’s Legacy forward with his iconic designs and super sharp observations and finally on 26th of October 1936 George vitton passed away and he left a legacy.
That was carry forwarded by his son gter Louie and his son-in-law Henry these two men expanded Louis Vuitton’s business from a handful of stores to 100 stores all across the world this is how the foundation of the brand name and the reputation of Louis Vuitton was established all across the world and after this Louis Vuitton was taken over.
By a man named berau Arno who’s currently the CEO of lvmh he’s an extreme extremely creative French entrepreneur who built the largest and best luxury brand in the world he was a complete Visionary uh he saw things that nobody else saw we try to build a large business with our partners uh with one criteria the best quality and the most.
Elitist product in every line that we are selling throughout the world and this is another epic business War case study in itself but for now it is information overload so we’ll cover it in another episode if this video gets 1 lakh likes and if we get one lakh likes we will make a ful length documentary on Bernar Arno who now heads 75 luxury.
Brands all across the world and is the third richest man in the world but for now this is what you need to know about how Louis Vuitton went from being a homeless teenager to building the most iconic luxury brand in the world and this brings us to the last part of the episode and that are the business lessons that we need to learn from the.
Rise of Louis vuon lesson number one once a great man said if you can’t do great things do simple things in a great way in this case Louis Vuitton did not cause the French Revolution the world war or the automobile Revolution he just made simple bags in a great way which were just the best in the market think about it when you think of bags it feels.
Like how far can you innovate but Louie and George Von kept on innovating for two generations only to build a brand that has now lasted two world wars and two centuries similarly in India what does ramesham Cafe do ramesham Cafe is a million dooll company which simply makes great dosas cycle pure agati is a 1200 CR Brand which simply makes great agatis.
Starbucks is a billion dollar brand which simply makes great coffee so if you can’t do great things do simple things in a great way lesson number two there is a TED Talk which was delivered by a former designer of Apple named Tony fedel and in this talk he mentioned that Innovation often stems from the act of stepping out of habituation for example.
Back then cars did not have wipers and even though it was inconvenient somehow everybody thought that’s how it is and they got used to the problem but a woman named Mary Anderson identified this as a problem and thought of Designing something to solve it and that is how the car wipers were invented and today we cannot imagine a car without a Viper.
Right similarly in this case study even though the world moved from horses to trains The Artisans never thought of new problems that could arise in the customers’s life and the new requirements that the customers might have in fact the funny thing was that even the customers never bothered about those problems because they did not.
Think about bags so seriously but this is where Louie and George witon found an opportunity because they stepped out of habituation and they did not do it once they did it again and again and again with l Bo with compartments and with the aot trunk design so learn to step out of habituation and I’ll leave the link to this Ted Talk in the description watch.
It and you will find it extremely inspiring and lastly always remember good is imperative but greatness my dear friend is a choice it is a difficult choice to make that choice you have to move away from convenience you have to endure the pain of not compromising even if that means losing money and most importantly you need to have the.
Persistence to deliver great products and services again and again and again no matter what happens in the market and the ones who have the audacity to make that choice end up building brands that last a century and in this story Louie and George witto made that choice of greatness eventually they built the most iconic luxury brand in the world which.
Now goes by the name Louis witon so the question is do you have the audacity to make the choice of greatness think about it that’s all from my side for today guys if you learn something valuable please make sure to hit the like button in order to make YouTube BBA happy and for more such insightful business and political case studies please subscribe.
To our Channel thank you so much for watching I will see you in the next one bye-bye
