Loewe

Loewe is a luxury leather goods brand originating from Spain . The company was founded by German leather craftsman Enrique Loewe Roessberg . The brand has been the official supplier of the Spanish royal family since 1905. It mainly deals in men's and women's handbags, and has product lines such as ready-to-wear, accessories, and home furnishings. It is now affiliated with the LVMH Group .

· Brand History ·

Loewe originated in 1846 and was initially run by a group of craftsmen in Madrid , making products such as suitcases, bags, wallets, picture frames, cigarette cases, etc. In 1876, German leather craftsman Enrique Loewe Roessberg joined and became one of the main partners of the workshop.

In 1892, the other two partners left one after another, and Enrique Loewe Roessberg became the sole operator of the workshop. He used his father's surname "Loewe" as the official name of the brand and established E. Loewe Company .

Loewe's workshops use high-grade materials such as lambskin, crocodile skin, iguana skin, snake skin, etc. to make leather goods , which attracted the nobles and middle class of Madrid. In 1905, King Alfonso XIII of Spain granted it the title of "official supplier" and officially designated Loewe to make bags, handbags, watch boxes, jewelry boxes, folders and other leather products for the royal family

. With the increase of brand awareness, Loewe has gradually expanded the coverage of domestic stores. In addition to the two major cities of Barcelona and Madrid, it also covers San Sebastian, Valencia, Palma, Seville, Granada, Tenerife, Bilbao and other regions.

The founder's grandson, Enrique Loewe Knappe, inherited the company in 1934; José Pérez de Rozas, the first creative director of the brand , took over in 1945 and left the company in 1978. During this period, the window displays he personally designed made Loewe stores gradually become city landmarks, establishing Loewe's position as a high-end brand.

In the 1960s, Loewe embarked on the road of global expansion, and its first overseas store opened on London's New Bond Street . The iconic "Anagram" pattern of the Loewe brand was born in 1970. It was designed by Spanish artist Vicente Vela . The lines of four cursive "L" s are intertwined to form a gorgeous mirrored pattern, which is still widely used in various leather products.

After the end of Franco's dictatorship in Spain, in order to welcome the new democratic regime, Loewe launched a handbag called "Amazona" in 1975. "Amazona" means "woman on horseback" in Spanish , symbolizing women's strength , independence and social rights.

This handbag is made of soft, lightweight and unlined suede . It is the world's first "24-hour" concept travel handbag. It combines simple design, soft texture, classic style and practical functions, embellishing the new life of Spanish women with elegance and bringing a subtle change to the fashion industry.

In the 1970s, in order to develop its women's ready-to-wear product line, Loewe hired Karl Lagerfeld , Giorgio Armani , Laura Biagiotte and others as designers. Later, Loewe entered the perfume industry and launched its first women's and men's perfumes.

Another classic Loewe handbag, the "Flamenco" , was released in 1984. The opening of the handbag can be tightened with a drawstring, and the soft lambskin material allows the handbag to maintain a smooth silhouette even after tightening. The tassel decoration at the end of the drawstrings on both sides is one of the design features of the handbag. In 2014, Loewe also launched the Flamenco Knot series , replacing the original tassels with knots, presenting a simple and low-key style.

Louis Vuitton, one of the predecessors of the LVMH Group, bought the global distribution rights of the Loewe brand outside Spain in 1985. In 1996, the LVMH Group completely acquired Loewe and subsequently appointed Cuban-American fashion designer Narciso Rodríguez as the design director of the women's series , injecting the American minimalist style with Latin colors into Loewe.

After Narciso Rodríguez left, Loewe welcomed three creative directors: Belgian designer José Enrique Oña Selfa (2002-2007), British designer Stuart Vevers (2008-2012) and British designer Jonathan Anderson (2013 to present).

Under the leadership of José Enrique Oña Selfa and Stuart Vevers , Loewe returned to its roots and refocused on leather as its design inspiration. However, after Jonathan Anderson took office , Loewe ushered in a new change: Anderson added more avant-garde colors to the brand with his own mix-and-match, splicing and transgender style.

In the second year after taking office, Jonathan Anderson teamed up with French design company M/M Paris to redesign the "Anagram" pattern to make it more simple and modern. He also improved the Amazona series and Flamenco series , and reinterpreted the classic series with the newly designed "Anagram" pattern.

In the same year, he proposed the concept of the "Casa Loewe" flagship store . The world's first "Casa Loewe" was unveiled in Omotesando, Tokyo , and the first "Casa Loewe" in Europe was unveiled in Milan . The store regularly welcomes various contemporary art works to highlight the brand's design style.

Jonathan Anderson has designed many iconic handbags for Loewe, including the Puzzle series based on the concept of "puzzle" ; the Hammock series derived from the "hammock" ; the Barcelona series characterized by triangular metal buckles ; the Animal series with small animal shapes ; the Joyce series with a classic crescent-shaped outline , etc. The Puzzle handbag is inspired by the concept of "puzzle" and is made of 40 pieces of leather in different shapes. It can produce rich color combinations and can be used in a variety of ways, such as single shoulder, crossbody, and hand-carry; the Hammock series is inspired by the "hammock" and also has flexible usage methods.

Chronology of major events·