After Charles-Émile Hermès’s retirement, sons Adolphe and Émile-Maurice took leadership and renamed the company Hermès Frères. Shortly after, Émile-Maurice began furnishing the tsar of Russia with saddles. By 1914, up to 80 saddle craftsmen were employed. Subsequently, Émile-Maurice was granted the exclusive rights to use the zipper for leather goods and clothing, becoming the first to introduce the device in France. In 1918, Hermès introduced the first leather golf jacket with a zipper, made for Edward, Prince of Wales. Because of its exclusive rights arrangement the zipper became known in France as the fermeture Hermès (Hermès fastener).
Throughout the 1920s, when he was the sole head of the firm, Émile-Maurice added accessories and clothing collections. He also groomed his three sons-in-law (Robert Dumas, Jean-René Guerrand, and Francis Puech) as business partners. In 1922, the first leather handbags were introduced after Émile-Maurice’s wife complained of not being able to find one to her liking. Émile-Maurice created the handbag collection himself.Post-Émile-Maurice Hermès Robert Dumas-Hermès (1898–1978), who succeeded Émile-Maurice after his death in 1951, closely collaborated with brother-in-law Jean-René Guerrand. Dumas became the first man not directly descended from Hermès père to lead the company because his connection to the family was only through marriage. Thus, he incorporated the Hermès name into his own, Dumas-Hermès.The company also acquired its Duc-carriage-with-horse logo and signature orange paper boxes in the early 1950s. Dumas introduced original handbags, jewelry, and accessories and was particularly interested in design possibilities with the silk scarves. During the mid-20th century, scarf production diminished. World Tempus, a Web portal dedicated to watchmaking, states: “Brought to life by the magic wand of Annie Beaumel, the windows of the store on the [rue du] Faubourg Saint-Honoré became a theatre of enchantment and [established the store as] a Parisian meeting-place for international celebrities.” In 1956, Life magazine featured a photograph of Grace Kelly, who had become the new Princess of Monaco, carrying the “Sac à dépêches” bag. Purportedly, she held it in front of herself to disguise her pregnancy. Thus, when the public began calling it the “Kelly” bag, a name subsequently adopted by Hermès, it became hugely popular.The perfume business became a subsidiary in 1961, concurrently with the introduction of the “Calèche” scent, named after a hooded four-wheeled horse carriage, known since the 18th century, and is also the company’s logo since the 1950s. In 2004, Jean-Claude Ellena became the in-house perfumer or “nose” and has created several successful scents, including the Hermessence line of fragrances.
