Introduction

Gucci and Chanel are big luxurious fashion houses. These Fashion houses have come to a standpoint of incredibly dominating the world; they have made a name for themselves with their timeless designs and quality.

Both Gucci and Chanel give us a slightly similar aesthetic taste of the fashion world. Despite their similarities, they are two different worlds, and they do well in their sphere. But for the competitive world, one brand must have popular demand. You might want to ask who is the bigger powerhouse between Gucci vs Chanel.

To decide who the greater powerhouse is between Gucci and Chanel, we have to look at how both fashion houses operate and gain value over the years. In this article, we will be looking at ;

• History of Gucci brand
• History of Chanel brand
• Gucci vs Chanel- who’s the bigger powerhouse

History of Gucci Brand

Guccio Gucci started the Gucci brand in 1921. He had a previous interest in fashion, as he would spend time admiring the luxurious suitcases of the rich at the Savoy Hotel in London where he worked. He got inspired and further moved to work with a local leather-making company at the time. After which, he opened his shop at his locality in Florence, Italy, where he sold imported leather.

He further expanded his business, with artisans making luggage travel goods with leather materials. The second world war was the beginning of a new wave for Gucci’s expansion. It wasn’t easy to get leather quickly, so the brand started using other materials like cotton to make their goods. During WWII, Gucci’s cotton handbags had the Double-G signature and the iconic Gucci green and red band. 

Gucci is famous for the quality material they use for making their goods. They produced handbags, clothing, silk goods, and knitwear. It was not until 1990 that they introduced new products such as watches, cosmetics, colognes, sunglasses, perfumes, and others. 

The Gucci brand started as a family business such that even after Gucci died in 1953, the company continued to expand and flourish. Moreover, other foreigners joined the business, and it was no longer a family affair. They developed the brand throughout Italy and Rome. The company also spread across Europe and became very famous and recognizable even today.

History of Chanel

Couturier Gabrielle Coco Chanel founded the Chanel brand in 1910. She was nicknamed Coco from her time as a chanteuse. She had a high taste of fashion which she expressed in her products.

The Chanel brand first started with only hats. The hat became famous as popular actresses wore them. She also featured them in magazines.

The brand expanded with Chanel opening her boutique in 1912, where she sold sportswear made with jerseys. In 1921, the brand created the iconic no5 perfume, which has stood the test of time to date. 

The Chanel fashion house has constantly focused on women, producing high taste, classy and elegant clothing alongside luxury goods and accessories for women. Her simple but classy clothes include a suit, trousers, dresses, and jewellery. Her clothing designs were calm instead of the loud and opulent design of the 19th century.

The Chanel brand further experienced growth when they created the timeless tweed suit. This gave rise to the revolutionized women’s fashion. The creative director, Lagerfeld, helped the brand progress with the complete rebrand of Chanel’s designs. He created a more classy and expressive suite from Denim and bright neon wool. He incorporated what Chanel was known for tweed fabric, linked CC logo, gold chains, and quilt stitched leather in his designs.

Over the years, Chanel has produced more sophisticated timeless designs that have become world standard. The iconic Chanel lid bag she made for herself has birthed more fanciful designs and styles.

Gucci vs Chanel: who is the bigger powerhouse

Notable among these brands is how they have grown from little beginnings into a world power. These individuals single-handedly birthed the fashion visions of the brands with just a little idea of fashion. They positively ventured into fashion and lit their world with beautiful creations.

Gucci Guccio and Gabrielle Chanel, founders of Gucci and Chanel brand respectively, are no more. However, the brand continues to stand for what they are famous for with the present-day interpretation. Their quality, designs, material, and logo remain inherent in their daily luxurious products. 

Now let’s make a thorough comparison of both brands. 

Gucci vs Chanel: style

One primary criterion in choosing your best clothing brand is their style. Gucci focuses on experimenting and creating modern styles. They consistently create new luxurious products giving their consumers a fresh look. If you want a bold, elegant look, then Gucci is your go-to brand. The brand is more intentional about dynamic young people.

On the other hand, Chanel has continued to preserve the elegance, classy look, and retro aesthetic. If you are a conservative person that wants simplicity, then you might want to consider Chanel. You will also enjoy the timeless design of the products.

Gucci vs Chanel: material and quality

As I mentioned earlier, the war led to a shortage of leathers, so Gucci was forced to explore different materials like canvas hemp and produce travel bags and handbags. They use these materials today and maintain unique designs. Some of the popular fabrics used in the pre-war include; Gucci Flora silk material used for Monaco princess on her demand, GG canvas was crafted from woven canvas with leather trim. Diamante was the first print used in the pre-war. The iconic green and red tips were formed during this period. And they are all still in use to date.

Chanel uses leathers such as snakeskin, tweed, velvet, cloth, jersey, wool lambskin, patent leather, and caviar. Lambskin and caviar are the primary raw materials for Chanel products, and they are gorgeous. Chanel lambskin gives more than luxury. They have a smooth and soft texture. On the other hand, Chanel Caviar is rough, lasts longer than the soft lambskin, and can easily take in scratches and stains. Chanel Calfskin is of a higher quality and most sought-after leather. Chanel patent leather is not very high quality and easily stains, but it has a retro aesthetic that you might like. It has many colours as well, but black will be better because of the stains.

Gucci vs Chanel: bag designs

These brands are famous for their exclusive bag designs. Chanel’s designs for bags are generally accepted as modern classic designs. She brought the idea of chain bags that allow you to carry them on your shoulder. She also came up with the hands-free bag against the clunky purse that you always have to hold.

Chanel’s bags were simple, sophisticated bags. She used a wide range of calm colours like navy blue and grey that were not associated with women at the time. Till now, Chanel designs maintain simplicity and sophistication. 

Gucci’s current creative director, Alessandro Michele, believes in moving with the times and adapting to the trends. He continues with the brand heritage but blends it with the latest trends. As a result, Gucci bag designs are numerous, and they are still striving to create a more luxurious brand to keep up with the 21st century. Their bag designs are colourful and magical to suit the younger customers. Gucci takes a radical approach to fashion. With Gucci, everything is possible, either luxurious high fashion taste or a timeless classic.

Gucci vs Chanel: Range of items

These brands are known for their bags and clothing, but these are just segments of their products. Gucci and Chanel first started with making leather and hat, respectively. With time and as the business expanded, Gucci now makes; handbags, clothes, shoes, lingerie, sportswear, makeup, perfumes, accessories, sunglasses, watches, pantyhose, belts, and home decor accessories. While Chanel produces similar products as Gucci, they cater more to women, providing mainly female wear and accessories.

Gucci vs Chanel: social media presence

To effectively run a business in our digitalized world, you must be socially active. Both brands understand this and have an active online presence in the most popular social media; Instagram and Twitter. Chanel stands to have more followers on Instagram with 47.4 million followers than Gucci, which has 46.3 followers. Chanel also has about 13 million followers on Twitter which is more than Gucci’s 6.1 followers. It appears Chanel has more social media recognition. However, both brands post videos, pictures regularly and have thousands of likes and comments. Both Gucci and Chanel use social media for advertising, but they do not interact with their audience.

Gucci vs Chanel: prices

Gucci has prices as low as $420, and they have bag designs worth $3400. Though Gucci prices are high, you would have long forgotten about the amount when you use them. They are firm and durable. In contrast, Chanel bag designs have prices as low as $3500 and have high costs of $10,500 in their stores. Chanel focuses more on classic designs than their prices. Moreover, their bags are simple designs, unlike Gucci bag designs, so they are not expensive.

Gucci vs Chanel: Logo

They both have similar logos. Gucci’s logo is two letter Gs interlaced together, while Chanel’s logo is two letter Cs intertwined together. They both give a circular shape. Gucci’s logo always stands both in their designs, especially their belts. Chanel logos are relatively small since their belts are small belts for just ladies.

Conclusion

These brands are big fashion powerhouses. Although they produce similar things, they have different approaches to their brand. They have different target audiences, styles, and advertising. This is what makes them stand unique and tall.

If you want to affiliate with the best fashion house, you should decide which one fits your preference. Now that you know about both brands, you can easily make your choice or create your unique style by combining aspects from both brands. Gucci and Chanel have gorgeous ready-to-wear collections. Ladies can decide if they want the bold floral prints that Gucci offers or the classy tweed designs by Chanel. To me, any is just as perfect. Men are limited to the Gucci brand since Chanel products are majorly for women.