Goyard
| Industry | luxury goods retail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1853 |
| Headquarters | 233 rue Saint-Honoré, Paris, France |
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Key people
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François Goyard (1828–1890), Edmond Goyard (1860–1937), Robert Goyard (1893–1979), François Goyard (1918–2005), Isabelle Goyard, |
| Products | trunks, fine leather goods, pet accessories |
| Website | www |
Goyard is a French trunk and leather goods maker. Established in 1853 in Paris, and previously doing business as Martin (Pierre-François Martin founded the House of Martin in 1792) and then Morel, it is the oldest such organization still in business, older than Louis Vuitton by one year. François Goyard (1828–1890) made box making, packing and trunk making the family’s trade when he purchased Maison Morel, successor to Maison Martin. Edmond Goyard (1860–1937) expanded his business from 1885 to 1937. Robert Goyard (1893–1979) was the face of the brand during the booming post-war years. François Goyard played a significant role in further increasing the firm’s growth with his daughter Isabelle Goyard (1959-). bought Goyard in 1998, and turned the privately-owned company into an internationally renowned brand.
The brand is known for a certain amount of secrecy, eschewing self-promotion, advertising, or e-commerce, and refusing to grant interviews.
Maison Morel was the official purveyor of Marie-Caroline de Bourbon-Sicile, duchess de Berry, an honour that granted it the title of "box maker, trunk maker and packer of Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Berry". Maison Martin’s store sign featured references to the three traditional crafts of "box making, trunk making and packing" that were at the core of its business, which was advertised as follows: "Maison Martin sells an assortment of boxes and cases; it provides quality packing services for fragile furniture and objects, as well as hats, gowns and flowers; it uses oiled canvas, plain canvas and straw for packing; manufacturer of horse carriage trunks and coat racks, it also supplies oilcloth and waterproof canvas, all at a fair price."
Pierre François Martin was the guardian of a young female ward, Pauline Moutat, and gave his business as her dowry. He was also instrumental in arranging her marriage to one of his employees, Louis-Henri Morel (1817–1852), who was twenty-three at the time. Morel followed on Martin’s footsteps, and introduced himself as the "Successor to former Maison Morel, located on rue Neuve-des-Capucines, near Place Vendôme." In turn, Louis-Henri Morel, passed on his skills and knowledge to a seventeen-year-old apprentice by the name of François Goyard, whom he hired in 1845. The apprentice received a state-of-the-art training under the dual guidance of Pierre François Martin and Louis-Henri Morel. Monsieur Morel died suddenly on 24 August 1852. In a short time, the house’s corporate name changed from Morel to Goyard, and from Goyard to Goyard Ainé (French for "elder", François being the firstborn among Goyard brothers), as to differentiate himself from his siblings. When he died, François Goyard left his son Edmond with a very reputable business with workshops in Bezons, · a city in the northwestern suburbs of Paris.
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Wikipedia