In 1925, Edoardo and Adele Fendi opened the first Fendi Store in Rome, where they were selling furs and leather. Initially they were hemstitching the handbags to start with.  Seventies and eighties bags were stylish and had caramel and chocolate stripes. In 1997, Silvia Venturini Fendi, a third generation Fendi, introduced the Baguette. Even as on today Fendi continues to astonish the fashion world with its innovative designs.

Fendi’s classic logo of two inverted FF facing each other was the trademark of Fendi. Fendi became famous among fashionable ladies initially for its classic clutch bags which is perfect for its casual wear as well as formal wear too. One has to utter the only word superb, seeing the detailing part of the design of a Fendi bag.

One may be wondering how far the tentacles of Fendi may be spreading. Now, there is a news item which announces that Italian luxary group Fendi will be holding a fashion show on the Great Wall of China as its parent company LVMH Moet Hennessy-Louis Vuitton, seeks to double its sale by 2008. The Chairman Mr. Bernard Arnault said that he finds Fendi’s great potentiality to become a star brand. Fendi’s Chief Executive Michael Burke claimed that “ we cannot become a global luxury group without a strong Italian brand”.

Fendi had sales of around 350 million euros in 2006 and aims to double that by 2008. As per the current sales figures , Fendi’s core business is in handbags and shoes which accounts for more than 60 percent of the total sales of the company.

However, critics are on the prowl who claim themselves as Fendi believer. But, they are very critical about Fendi’s overly logoized version of the bags. They site Zucca bags where the handle is slathered with F’s. They denounce it as nothing more than a  fug bag and having logos in so many places that really hurt someone’s taste. Their advice is Fendi should take a season off, sit back, regroup and then come back with something which match their past record of astonishing designs.