Ben Gilbert: belief

Transcript context

…Yeah, I think they very brilliantly walk this line. The products that the shops carry are very different. We'll get into that later in the episode too. Back to this era, I think we've laid the groundwork of a few critical components of Hermes so far. First and most importantly, the craftsmanship, these things are handmade by artisans with their hands, and the family and the people who own the company are the chief artisans. That goes all the way back to Thierry. We've talked about the connection to the legacy of French nobility, but not really French nobility. It's like status, but accessible status for the first time in the world and the modernization of the world. We've talked now here about the true modernization of the company in the transition to the automobile era. What we haven't talked about yet and what Hermes at this point certainly is not is this element of whimsy and art that is really, really critical, I think, to the company. Yes. If you've ever been in an Hermes store, you can feel a warmth that doesn't exist in other luxury stores. If you're in a destination with a lot of luxury shops, you'll walk past a lot of bright lights, mirrors, punch you in the face reds, and black and white, and you just feel like there's a lot going on. Then you arrive at Hermes, and it feels warm, it feels soft, it feels welcoming, and it feels whimsical. There's this almost dreamlike color palette that they use, starting with a base of orange and having this explosive rainbow of fun, but in some ways it all feels natural, from the earth, and just whimsy. I think that you nailed it, David, whimsical. This I think is really a very different thread than the original leather craftsmanship, and it is a critical one in the weaving of the Hermes business. This thread comes from the next generation of the family, specifically Robert Dumas. Emile had four children, but they were all daughters. Tragically, one died young, but the other three grew up and got married. Back in this day, women weren't going to take over the business, unfortunately.…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.