Ben Gilbert: observation

Transcript context

…Silk scarves, the Hermes classic silk scarves. This is the embodiment of this art and whimsy that we're talking about. The silks that they use are the finest silks in the world. It takes 300 silk moth cocoons per scarf, as they will readily tell you to produce these things. But the designs on them, the artwork on them are whimsical like we said. The first design, the Jeu des Omnibus et Dames Blanches or the white ladies at play, I guess you could translate that, is based on a woodblock engraving that Robert does. This is what an artist this guy is. He's about to become CEO of Hermes, but he's making woodblock engravings and then making silk scarves out of them. That's the first design that they put out there, and quickly they become a huge, huge phenomenon with Hermes clients. Yeah. Fast forward all the way to 1988, when Axel Dumas has his very first internship with the company, this is crazy. Silk was 55% of the company's sales. Leather was only 9%. You compare that to today, it is a completely different story. Leather is 43% and silk and textiles is 7%. There was a run. This was introduced when, David, the 30s? 1937.…

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