Gucci was nearly bankrupt and license-saturated — until Tom Ford and De Sole saved it

By the early 1990s, Gucci, the Florentine leather goods house founded in 1921, was in crisis. Decades of over-licensing had diluted the brand: the Gucci name appeared on over 22,000 products, from cheap lighters to toilet kits, sold in duty-free shops worldwide. The brand had lost all luxury cachet.

The Gucci family's internal feuds had left the company directionless, and it was nearly bankrupt. Bahrain-based Investcorp had taken control, and in 1994 Tom Ford was named creative director, with Domenico De Sole as CEO. Ford's provocative, sexually charged designs and De Sole's ruthless consolidation of licenses transformed the brand.

Gucci went from near-bankruptcy to one of the world's most profitable luxury brands within five years. The case illustrated how over-licensing can destroy a luxury brand, and how a clear creative vision combined with business discipline can rebuild it. Ford and De Sole later left after a power struggle with PPR (now Kering), which acquired Gucci in 1999.