Miuccia and Patrizio: Turning a Failing Milan Trunk Shop Into Nylon Chic

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In 1913 a strict patriarch opened a luxury travel goods shop in Milan's Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and barred the women of his family from the business. When his son refused to take over, his daughter Luisa ran the shop for about two decades as a caretaker. By 1978, when her daughter Miuccia took the helm, sales were around $450,000. Miuccia had spent her early adulthood in left-wing politics and studying mime, not leatherwork. In 1977 she met Patrizio, a leather entrepreneur since his teens, who told her to stop importing from England and produce at home. In 1979 she released backpacks and totes in waterproof military nylon, the same material her grandfather used to wrap his trunks for shipping.

A 1985 nylon handbag became a global hit, the couple married in 1987, and womenswear arrived in 1988, followed by a younger line named for Miuccia's nickname. Her deliberately unsexy designs challenged conventional beauty, while Patrizio's 1990s buying spree piled up debt that forced sales of acquired labels. The 2000s and 2010s brought a runway where models fell, a Japanese labor case that reached the United Nations, a 2018 New York display condemned as racist, and a 2025 sandal backlash in India. In 2025 the company bought a rival Italian house for over a billion euros.

• At a 2008 Milan show, silk socks inside towering heels sent several models stumbling, and the shoes were never sold.
• A Tokyo court sided with the brand in a 2010 appearance discrimination case, but the UN later urged Japan to tighten harassment laws.
• After the 2018 controversy the company formed a diversity and inclusion advisory council.
• The 2025 sandal dispute was resolved through a collaborative collection with Indian artisan groups.
• An art installation in the Texas desert recreates one of its boutiques and is meant to decay slowly.