Guess (clothing)

Guess, Inc.

Type	Public
Traded as	: GES S&P 600 Component
Industry	Fashion
Founded	1981
Founder	Georges Marciano
Number of locations	484 (April 2011)
Key people	Victor Herrero, CEO, Paul Marciano, Executive Chairman of the Board and Chief Creative Officer Maurice Marciano, Director and Chairman Emeritus
Products	Clothing accessories
Revenue	$2.19 billion (2006)
Net income	$123.2 million (2006)
Number of employees	14,600 (2014)
Website	www.guess.com

Guess (styled as GUESS or Guess?) is an American clothing brand and retailer. In addition to clothing for both men and women, Guess markets other fashion accessories such as watches, jewelry, perfumes, and shoes.

Guess began in 1981 as a book of styles by Georges Marciano. Maurice, Georges brother, was first sought by Georges to help with product development. Armand and Paul, also Georges' brothers, were in charge of distribution and advertising, respectively. Armand ran distribution. Paul created the advertising, all of it in-house. Georges designed the clothes, burnishing Guess' signature style: stonewashed denim, lighter in color, softer and more form-fitting than the competitors. This initial chain of command later led to the earlier break-up of the brothers' cooperation with Georges selling his share of the Guess company to his other brothers due to a disagreement in a choice of product distribution strategy. Georges wanted to keep Guess in only the more exclusive stores, such as Bloomingdales. The remaining brothers in the disagreement wanted a larger distribution in KMart. Georges hated the idea. Different camps formed within the company, with each pledging allegiance to either Georges or the other three. Georges eventually gave in and sold his stake to his brothers in 1993 for $214.2 million. To finance the purchase, they had to borrow $210 million, and $105 million was still outstanding three years later. To raise money, the brothers decided to take Guess public.Paul was the only remaining brother to ultimately lead Guess on his own.

When Georges Marciano and his brothers were much younger, they opened a series of stores in France under the name MGA before launching Guess in America in 1981, after Georges Marciano first came to America in 1977. Their top seller: unisex jeans. Georges Marciano and his brothers moved to Los Angeles to see if they could pull off a similar feat, borrowing a mottled wash Georges had noticed on jeans in an Italian laundromat he had taken note of (at the time, jeans styles were only sold in indigo blue or bleached).

The founder, Georges Marciano, and his brothers moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and opened the first store in upscale Beverly Hills area. Armand and Paul joined Georges and his brother in California. Georges came up with the company name after driving past a McDonald’s billboard asking drivers to guess which eatery had the biggest cheeseburger. Maurice Marciano said, “Georges came home and said, ‘I think I found our name. Guess.’ ”