Thierry Hermès (pronounced [tjɛʁi ɛʁmɛs]; 10 January 1801 – 10 January 1878) was a French businessman who founded Hermès International and acquired the title as a fashion house designer.^[1] He was born in 1801 in Krefeld, Germany.^[2] Hermès originally established his business as a saddle company in 1837.^[3] His first workshop showcased jewelry, home decor items, and silk scarves.^[4] His father Thierry Hermès originated from France and his mother, Agnese Kuhnen originated from Germany.^{[citation needed]} He lost his family due to disease and moved to Paris in 1821.^[5] After his death in 1878, his son and grandsons Charles-Emile Hermès, Adolphe Hermès and Emile-Maurice, continued to run the family business.^[6]

Thierry Hermès was born in 1801 in the city of Krefeld, which at the time was part of Napoleon's empire, earning Hermès French citizenship.^[7] He was the sixth child of his parents who were innkeepers.^[8] After he lost his entire family to disease and war, he moved to France in 1821 as an orphan.^[9] Using his gift in leatherworking, he opened his saddle and harness shop in 1837 located in the Paris neighborhood known as Grands Boulevards.^[10]

In 1837, Thierry Hermès founded the Hermès company as a manufacturer of horse harnesses on the Rue Basse du Rempart in Paris.^[11] Hermès specialized in the horse harnesses required by society traps, caleches, and carriages.^[12] He built his business on the strength of a stitch that could only be done by hand.^[13] The saddle stitch was completed when two needles worked two waxed linen threads in tensile opposition.^[14] After opening up his shop, his clients were the rich which included: the Parisian beau monde and European royalty, the emperor Napoleon III and his empress, Eugenie.^[15] The business soon went from harness and saddles to trunks, handbags, and zippers.^[16]

Hermès had one son with his wife Christine Pétronille Pierrart (1805-1896) who they named Charles-Emile.^[17][18] Charles-Emile had two sons of his own, Adolphe and Emile-Maurice, who were involved in the family business building elite clientele in Europe, North Africa, Russia, America, and Asia.^[19][20] After Hermès started his harness company, his son Charles-Emile Hermès took over the family business moving the store to 24 rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré.^[21] This meant that the store was in proximity to wealthy clients.^[22][23] Adolphe left Emile with the business because he believed that the company didn't have a long future in the era of carriages.^[24] Emile-Maurice noticed the demand for saddlery, leading him to direct Hermès to make "saddle stitched" leather goods and trunks for the customers who traveled by car, train, ship.^[25] After realizing the company was diving into the age of automobiles, Emile-Maurice acquired a two-year patent for the zipper which was known as the "Hermès Fastener."^[26] Once the zipper was introduced, the clothing era was transformed.^[27] Other businesses such as Coco Chanel wanted to learn from them due to their rapid growth and popularity.^[28] Emile Hermès' sons-in-law, Robert Dumas-Hermès (1898-1978) and Jean-René Guerrand-Hermès (1901-1993) took over the company in 1950.^[29] The contributions from his children and grandchildren influenced the company."^[30] In 1993, the company went public but 80 percent of the shares were controlled by Hermès family members.^[31]

Hermès has many innovations which are still known to this day.^[32] The Hermès zipper founded in 1923 is used in many of the bags today.^[33] The silk Hermès used for jockeys' blouses developed the first silk scarf, "Jeu des Omnibus et Dames blanches" in 1923.^[34] Around the 1930s, Hermès International launched several items that became classics, including the large crocodile handbag known later as the Kelly, named for Grace Kelly.^[35][36] The company later developed men's neckties, watches, and new scarf designs.^[37] Today, Hermès features products like charms (starting at $40) and an oversize panda-bear bean-bag made of Clémnce bull-calf leather (most expensive at $100,000).^[38] One of the known classics, the Birkin, was named after actress Jane Birkin and created by Jean-Louis Dumas in 1984.^[39] Today, Hermès has 283 stores worldwide.^[40] Since 1923, Hermès has a color theme every year for their collections, creating limited edition items like the "Year of the River" (2005) silk scarf.^[41]