What the garment is and where it came from
Fendi is an Italian luxury fashion house producing fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Adele and Edoardo Fendi launched it in 1925 as a fur and leather shop on Via del Plebiscito in Rome. In 1932 they opened a boutique on via Piave, which became a popular destination for tourists in Rome. In 1946 five sisters, Paola, Anna, Franca, Carla and Alda, joined the company in its second generation, each owning 20 percent.
How it works, in terms someone would actually use
The house grew outward from fur and leather. Karl Lagerfeld joined in 1965 as creative director for the fur and women’s ready-to-wear collections. In 1966 he created the logo, a double F in a square, and the house presented its first high fashion collection. A commercial fur line followed in 1969, and in 1977 Fendi introduced clothing for the first time with its ready-to-wear collection. By 1994 fashion operations accounted for 90 percent of revenue: 50 percent from leather goods and accessories, 20 percent from apparel and 20 percent from furs. In 2018 the house had 3,000 employees, about 400 of them in specialist leather and fur ateliers in Italy.
What it gets right
Two bags carried the house. Silvia Venturini Fendi, who joined in 1994, designed the Baguette in 1997, and it beat all sales and notoriety records. Her Peekaboo of 2009 achieved a success comparable to it. Cinema has been a steady line: the house designed the clothes for Once Upon a Time in America, Evita and The Royal Tenenbaums, and in the 1970s directors including Visconti, Fellini, Zeffirelli and Bolognini chose Fendi furs for their characters. By 2018 annual sales had crossed 1 billion euros.
What it does not
Not every line lasted. The Fendissime diffusion line closed in 2001. Fendi’s fragrances were pulled from the market when its beauty licence ended in 2005, and the scents launched since then were discontinued by 2015, until a collection of seven returned in 2024. The label lost about 20 million euros in 2001 and again in 2002. It also planned to move its headquarters into the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana at 2.8 million euros a year, then opened a hotel and its largest store there in 2016 instead.
What it changed
The house changed hands and reach. It was family-controlled until 1999, when Prada and LVMH bought 51 percent for US$545 million, outbidding Gucci. In 2002 Prada sold its 25.5 percent stake to LVMH, which also acquired a further 15.9 percent, and Carla Fendi remained chairwoman and a minority owner until 2008. Along the way the house opened on New York’s 5th Avenue in 1989, held the first fashion show on the Great Wall of China in 2007 with 88 models, and in 2015 staged Haute Fourrure, its first haute couture show dedicated to furs.
Who it is for, and who it is not
Fendi has dressed Sophia Loren, Diana Ross, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Soraya and Liza Minnelli. It suits readers who want leather goods and accessories with a documented lineage. A house founded on fur and still showing it in 2015 is not neutral ground for a reader who rules fur out.
Is it worth your time
Yes, as a case study in how a Roman fur and leather shop became a global house under LVMH. Leadership keeps moving: Lagerfeld died in 2019, Kim Jones left in 2024, Silvia Venturini Fendi stepped down in September 2025, and Maria Grazia Chiuri was appointed Chief Creative Officer in October 2025.
