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Hermès International S.A., is a French luxury design house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, lifestyle, perfumery, jewelry, watches, and ready-to-wear.

In 1924, Hermès established a presence in the United States and opened two shops outside of Paris. In 1929, the first women’s couture apparel collection was previewed in Paris. During the 1930s, Hermès introduced some of its most recognized original goods such as the leather “Sac à dépêches” in 1935 (later renamed the “Kelly bag” after Grace Kelly) and the Hermès carrés (square scarves) in 1937.

From the mid-1930s, Hermès employed Swiss watchmaker Universal Genève as the brand’s first and exclusive designer of timepieces, producing a line of men’s wrist chronographs (manufactured in 18K gold or stainless steel) and women’s Art Déco cuff watches in 18K gold, steel, or platinum. Both models contained dials signed either “Hermès” or “Hermès Universal Genève”.From the 1980s, tableware became a strong segment of the firm. And, overall, the collection of Hermès goods expanded in 1990 to include over 30,000 pieces. New materials used in the collection included porcelain and crystal. Hermès relocated its workshops and design studios to Pantin, just outside Paris.

By June 1993, Hermès had gone public on the Paris Bourse (stock exchange). At the time, the equity sale generated great excitement. The 425,000 shares floated at FFr 300 (US$55 at the time) were oversubscribed by 34 times. Dumas told Forbes magazine that the equity sale would help lessen family tensions by allowing some members to liquidate their holdings without “squabbling over share valuations among themselves.”

In 2003, Margiela left Hermès, and highly controversial Jean-Paul Gaultier, as the head designer, debuted his first ready-to-wear collection for fall/winter 2004–05. After 28 years as head of the firm, Jean-Louis Dumas retired in January 2006. Known for his charm and one of Europe’s greatest authorities on luxury, he died in 2010 after a long illness. Patrick Thomas, who had joined the company in 1989 and who had worked with Jean-Louis as the co-CEO from 2005, replaced him. Thomas became the first non-Hermès family member to head the company.

In February 2015, Hermès has announced an increase of its turnover of 9.7%, which represents more than €4 billion in sales. This increase is internationally visible. In Asia, excluding Japan, where the turnover grew 7%, in America, with a 10% rise, in Europe where it grew 7% growth and generated a good performance in the group’s stores. In March 2018, Hermès opened a multi-story shop at the Dubai Mall, their largest to date. In 2019, the brand was ranked 33rd in the Forbes List “World’s Most Valuable Brands”.

The 2021 review of WIPO‘s annual World Intellectual Property Indicators ranked Hermès 7th in the world for the 68 industrial design registrations that were published under the Hague System during 2020. This position is significantly up on their previous 15th place ranking for their 27 industrial design registrations published in 2019.