Prada

Prada, S.p.A. is a well-known Italian fashion company (also known as a "label" or "house") with retail outlets worldwide.

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History

The company, originally known in Italy as "Prada Brothers", was founded in 1913 by Mario Prada in Milan. In 1978, Mario's granddaughter Miuccia Prada inherited what was still a leather goods business from her grandfather, and led the company's expansion into couture with an overall more bohemian style. Miu Miu is a second line of clothing, often simpler and evoking a continual image of high-end vintage items. It was followed by the Prada Sport 'Linea Rossa'

Currently Prada is considered one of the most influential clothing designers in the fashion industry.

Acquisitions

Following the lead of other companies in a popular trend to absorb as many other fashion houses as possible, Prada took on large debts when it acquired the financially floundering Rome-based house of Fendi in the early 1990s. Prada assumed shares in Fendi with the LVMH company. Prada was unable to turn around/support the money-losing Fendi label, and sold its Fendi shares to LVMH. Prada is still recovering from this debt. In 1999, the company acquired Church's, the English maker of quality shoes; more recently a 45% stake has been sold to Equinox.

The Prada Group's other notable purchases in the 1990s were the Helmut Lang and Jil Sander labels. By 2006, however, both labels had been sold. Jil Sander was sold to the private equity firm Change Capital Partners, which is headed by Luc Vandevelde, the chairman of Carrefour, while the Helmut Lang label is now owned by Japanese fashion company Link Theory.

Joint Ventures

In May of 2007, Prada joined forces with cell phone maker LG Electronics to create the LG Prada (KE850) phone. It retails for $800.

Architecture

Prada has commissioned architects, most notably Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron, to design flagship stores in various locations.

In 2005, near the West Texas towns of Valentine and Marfa, a pair of Scandinavian artists, Emily Milne and Zoe Brown, unveiled Prada Marfa, a sculpture masquerading as a Prada mini-boutique. Located along an isolated stretch of U.S. Highway 90, the 15 by 25-foot adobe and stucco building was partially funded by the Prada Foundation.

Prada boutiques and megastore

Prada has 9 boutiques and 2 epicenter/megastores in the U.S.

U.S. Boutiques:

• New York
• Chicago
• San Francisco
• Bal Harbour
• Las Vegas
• Ala Moana Center
• Waikiki
• Aspen
• Manhasset, NY
• Boston (June 2008)
• Houston Galleria

Worldwide Epicenters:

• New York
• Beverly Hills
• Tokyo

Prada in media

• A novel named The Devil Wears Prada (novel) was created in 2003, about an 'evil' boss who is self obsessed and vanity-ridden, wearing designer clothes, such as Prada
• A film, The Devil Wears Prada (film) was later based on this novel
• There is also a band named The Devil Wears Prada