(approximately US$180,000) per fashion show. He reinvested a large propor-
tion of his earnings into his growing business. This financial control led to the
rapid growth and expansion of the Pierre Cardin fashion empire.
Today, Pierre Cardin is a multi-millionaire and one of the wealthiest fash-
ion designers and entrepreneurs of all time. He is also one of the wealthiest
men in France. He owns several homes including in Paris and Cannes, where
he built a Palace with a swimming pool on every level. His riches were largely
accumulated from his fashion business dealings and licensing agreements.
Corporate and brand strategy
The Pierre Cardin brand and the man Pierre Cardin have one personality and
identity. There have been minimal significant conscious efforts made to sepa-
rate the personality of the brand Pierre Cardin from the man himself, Pierre
Cardin. Although Pierre Cardin is the owner and ambassador of the brand
Pierre Cardin, the brand entity has been entwined with the personality of
Pierre Cardin, his beliefs, business practices and evolution. It is quite impos-
sible to think about the brand without conjuring up several aspects of Pierre
Cardin, the man, such as his multiple licensing deals and other drastic fash-
ion practices. As a result, the brand Pierre Cardin has no separate personality
and image. The numerous products in multiple categories, which are
produced by both Pierre Cardin and several licensees, also contribute to a
confusing perception of the brand and what it stands for. A part of the
consumer public perceives the brand as a ‘high-end fashion brand’, while
others see it as ‘a low-quality and cheap brand’ as a result of the licensed
products, even though the brand’s own products are well-crafted and
premium-priced. These unclear factors make the task of assessing the brand-
ing strategy of Pierre Cardin a challenge.
The corporate strategy of Pierre Cardin has been related to innovation and
creativity both in fashion design and business approach. Pierre Cardin is a
highly talented fashion designer and an astute businessman. He is an innova-
tor who adopted several aspects of the current fashion management early in
his career when they were considered as near taboos. His vision and innova-
tive (sometimes radical) approach to fashion has led to numerous fashion
revolutions such as the emergence of the premium fashion sector and other
fashion retail practices like licensing, global expansion, brand extension and
diversification. He was the first fashion designer to adopt several practices
discussed in the following points:
- He was the first haute couturefashion designer to launch a ready-to-wear
collection in 1959, at Au Printemps in Paris. Until then, high fashion had
been exclusively for the privileged wealthy few and Pierre Cardin’s
attempt to take high fashion to the masses had never been heard of in the
fashion world. The uproar his ready-to-wear collection created and the
chapter 10 299case illustrations