James Baquet

    Most modern shoppers are familiar with the interlinked L-V logo that symbolizes the high-end Louis Vuitton brand. But it might surprise you to learn that M. Vuitton himself was not a modern designer, but in fact lived from 1821 to 1892!

    The bag that hangs on so many elegant arms owes its beginnings to a more humble article: trunks meant for shipping goods.

    Young Louis was born in Anchay, Eastern France. His father was a farmer, and other ancestors followed similarly humble professions: carpentry, joinery, and so on. But it may have been his mother who influenced his future career. She was a milliner, a person who makes hats.

    Orphaned before age 13, the boy decided to go to Paris to seek his fortune, traveling on foot. He stopped along the way to do odd jobs, so it took him over two years to cover the 750-plus-kilometers. He arrived in Paris in 1837, an unstable time in French history, and at 16 he was among the many poor arriving in that city.

    Fortunately, he was able to find a job with a man who specialized in making custom containers for packing luxury items, as well as doing the actual packing and unpacking. This was considered a highly skilled occupation at the time, and Vuitton quickly established a reputation as one of the best in his craft.

    After marrying in 1854, he opened his own workshop. There, a simple innovation led to surprising success. At that time, packing chests had a rounded top, similar to what we see in pirate movies today. Louis had the idea to create flat-topped boxes that could then be stacked one atop the other. His success led to the opening of another workshop, this one outside of Paris.

    Today, the company he started is known for its luxury leather goods, from the original product — trunks — to other luggage, bags, and shoes, as well as watches and other accessories, jewelry, sunglasses, and even books. The company he started operates over 460 of its own boutiques in over 50 countries worldwide, as well as selling through other retail outlets, and in 2013 was valued at US$28.4 billion.

    Vocabulary

    Which word above means:

    1. small piece of work that requires little skill

    2. the skill of making things with wood

    3. expensive, luxury

    4. item, object, thing

    5. small, elegant specialty stores

    6. joined together, like the pieces of a chain

    7. stores

    8. new method or product

    9. symbol used to identify a company or organization

    10. fine carpentry, as in making furniture