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The Louis Vuitton Story - Part 3

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After Vuitton's death, Georges amazingly made Louis Vuitton a worldwide corporation.

1893 - Georges displays Vuitton products at the World's Fair in Chicago.

1894 - Georges publishes his book "Le Voyage".

1896 - Georges designs the 'Monogram Canvas' (shown to the right). It came to be called 'Monogram Canvas;' its graphic symbols were based on the trend for Japanese/Oriental designs in the late Victorian Period. This can be considered the first "designer logo", since Georges was driven to create this pattern to prevent further copying of Vuitton patterns (counterfeiting had already begun by this point). Georges then sailed to the United States, in which he toured various cities such as New York, Philadelphia, and Chicago. He sold Vuitton products during the visit.

1899 - Georges exhibited Vuitton products at the maiden Paris Auto Show.

1900 - Georges Vuitton was given the honor to set up the "Travel Items and Leather Goods" section of the 1900 Paris World Fair.

1901 - the Louis Vuitton Company introduced the 'Steamer Bag', a small handbag to be kept inside Vuitton luggage trunks.

1904 - Georges chaired the jury for the St. Louis World Fair. In the same year, the Louis Vuitton company introduced a new line of trunks that have special compartments for items such as perfumes, clothing, and other goods.

1906 - Georges' son Gaston-Louis married Renee Versille and Louis Vuitton introduces trunks for automobiles.

1914 - The Louis Vuitton Building opens in Champs-Elysees. The building was the largest travel-goods store in the world at that time. Store locations open in New York, Bombay, Washington, London, Alexandria and Buenos Aires as World War I begins.

1924 - Only eight years after the end of World War I, the 'Keepall' is invented. This bag foreran the duffel bag in a travel bag for light travel to keep necessities in.

1929 - The seventy-fifth anniversary of Louis Vuitton, a toiletry case is introduced specifically for opera singer Marthe Chenal. It could fit bottles, brushes, mirrors, powder boxes and more toiletries.

1931 - Louis Vuitton introduced exotic bags such as a handbag of crocodile skin, as well as elephant hide handbags for the Colonial Exhibition.

1932 - Louis Vuitton introduced the Nóe bag. This bag was made for champagne vinter to transport bottles.

1933 - The Louis Vuitton Speedy bag was introduced.

1936 - The golden age of Louis Vuitton ends as Georges Vuitton passes away. Estimates attribute Georges Vuitton with over 700 new Vuitton designs. Gaston-Louis Vuitton assumes control of the company. The secretary trunk is introduced for Leopold Stokowski, a conductor.

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