Christian Louboutin

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Christian Louboutin
Christian Louboutin.jpg
Christian Louboutin in 2011 documentary for W (magazine).
Born (1963-01-07) 7 January 1963 (age 53)
Paris, France
Occupation Fashion designer
Years active 1991–present

Christian Louboutin (French: [kʁis.tjɑ̃ lu.bu.tɛ̃]; born 7 January 1963) is a French luxury footwear and fashion designer whose footwear has incorporated shiny, red-lacquered soles that have become his signature.[1]

Early life[edit]

Louboutin was born and raised in Paris's 12th arrondissement. He was the only son of Roger, an ébeniste (cabinet-maker),[2] and Irene, a homemaker, both French, from Brittany. He has three sisters. Louboutin said in a 2012 interview that he was "much darker-skinned than everyone else in his family. You know, I felt I wasn't French. My family was very French and so I decided they had probably adopted me. But instead of feeling it was terrible and that I was an outsider who had to go and find my real family, I invented my own history, full of characters from Egypt because I was very into the pharaohs."[3] He ironically discovered, following a revelation by one of his sisters in 2014 that his biological father was in fact an Egyptian, with whom his mother Irene had been having a secret affair.[4][5]

Louboutin was expelled from school three times and then decided to run away from home at the age of 12,[6] at which point his mother allowed him to move out to live at a friend's house.[7] He faced much opposition when he decided to drop out from school. However, he claims that what helped him make up his mind was an interview on TV with Sophia Loren, in which she introduced her sister, saying she had to leave school when she was only 12, but when she turned 50, she got her degree. He later remarked, "Everybody applauded! And I thought, 'Well, at least if I regret it I'm going to be like the sister of Sophia Loren!'"

Personal life[edit]

Landscape architect Louis Benech has been his partner since 1997. Louboutin and his partner spend time between their homes in Paris's 1st arrondissement,[8] a fisherman's cottage in Lisbon,[9] a palace in Aleppo,[10] a houseboat on the Nile christened Dahabibi-my love boat, and a house in Luxor. The Luxor domicile is a former craftsman's workshop, made of earthen bricks, to which he has added an additional floor and a rooftop belvedere.[11] Additionally, he shares a 13th-century castle in the Vendée with his business partner Bruno Chamberlain.[7]

Career[edit]

Christian Louboutin Ltd.
Private, S.A.
Industry Consumer goods
Founded 1991
Founder Christian Louboutin
Henri Seydoux
Bruno Chamberlain and Faheema Moosa [12]
Headquarters Paris, France
Key people
Christian Louboutin, co-founder
Bruno Chamberland, co-founder and CEO[13]
Henri Seydoux, co-founder and director
Alexis Mourot, COO and GM[13]
[14]
Products Shoes, purses, wallets
Revenue Increase $250 million (31 December 2010) on 600,000 pairs of shoes a year[15]
Number of employees
420 (2011)[7]
Website christianlouboutin.com

Louboutin began sketching shoes in his early teens, ignoring his academic studies. Going through a punk phase, he was in a few films, including 1979 cult classic Race d'ep and The Homosexual Century, which attracted an English-language audience. His first job was at the Folies Bergères, the cabaret where he assisted the entertainers backstage. He was also a fixture on the city's party scene, clubbing his nights away alongside Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol.[7]

His little formal training included drawing and the decorative arts at the Académie d'Art Roederer. Louboutin claims his fascination with shoes began in 1976, when he visited the Musée national des Arts d'Afrique et d'Océanie on the avenue Daumesnil. It was there that he saw a sign from Africa forbidding women wearing sharp stilettos from entering a building for fear of damage to the extensive wood flooring. This image stayed in his mind, and he later used this idea in his designs. "I wanted to defy that," Louboutin said. "I wanted to create something that broke rules and made women feel confident and empowered."[16]

Fascinated by world cultures, he ran away in his teens to Egypt and spent a year in India. Louboutin returned to Paris in 1981, where he assembled a portfolio of drawings of elaborate high heels. He brought it to the top couture houses. The effort resulted in employment with Charles Jourdan. Subsequently, Louboutin met Roger Vivier, who claims to have invented the stiletto, or spiked-heel shoe. Louboutin became an apprentice in Vivier's atelier.

Going on to serve as a freelance designer, Louboutin designed women's shoes for Chanel, Yves Saint Laurent, and Maud Frizon. In the late 1980s, he turned away from fashion to become a landscape gardener and to contribute to Vogue but missed working with shoes and set up his company in 1991.

With funds from two backers, he opened a Paris shoe salon in 1991 with Princess Caroline of Monaco as his first customer. She complimented the store one day when a fashion journalist was present, and the journalist's subsequent publication of Princess' comments helped greatly to increase Louboutin's renown. Clients such as Diane von Fürstenberg and Catherine Deneuve followed. Later, those interested in his stiletto heels have included Christina Aguilera, Joan Collins, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Tina Turner, Marion Cotillard, Nicki Minaj, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Blake Lively. Sarah Jessica Parker wore a pair of shoes by Louboutin for her wedding. Britney Spears wears a pair of high-heeled Louboutins in her music video "If U Seek Amy" that were not available for sale until a month after the video was released.[17][18]

Louboutin has topped the Luxury Institute's annual Luxury Brand Status Index (LBSI) for three years; the brand's offerings were declared the Most Prestigious Women's Shoes in 2007, 2008, and 2009.[19][20][21] By 2011, Louboutin became the most searched-for shoe brand online.[22]

Shoes[edit]

An example of Louboutin's signature red-bottoms

Louboutin helped bring stilettos back into fashion in the 1990s and 2000s,[citation needed] designing dozens of styles with heel heights of 120 mm (4.72 inches) and higher. The designer's professed goal has been to "make a woman look sexy, beautiful, to make her legs look as long as [he] can".[23][24] While he does offer some lower-heeled styles, Louboutin is generally associated with his dressier evening-wear designs incorporating jeweled straps, bows, feathers, patent leather, red soles, and other similar decorative touches. He is most popularly known for the red leather soles on his high heel shoes, commonly referred to as "sammy red-bottoms".[25] Christian Louboutin's red-bottom colour code is Pantone 18-1663 TPX.[26][27]

His single biggest client is Danielle Steel, who is reputed to own over 6,000 pairs and is known to have purchased up to 80 pairs at a time when shopping at his stores. Ms. Steel is an American novelist, currently the best selling author alive and the fourth bestselling author of all time, with over 800 million copies sold.[28]

Trademark litigation[edit]

The red sole is protected as a trademark in several countries, and litigation has taken place in various disputes in which Louboutin claimed infringement of its rights. Litigation generally also involved discussion of the validity or the scope of protection of the trademark.

Belgium - Louboutin vs. Dr. Adams Footwear

In 2013, Louboutin filed a trademark infringement claim of the Benelux trademark against Dr. Adams. The Court of First Instance of Brussels declared the trademark however invalid.[29] That decision was overturned by the Brussels Court of Appeal, who forbade the sale of shoes with a red sole by Dr. Adams.[30]

France - Louboutin vs. Zara

In France, in first instance the trademark of Louboutin was held valid, but not infringed by Zara. The Court of Appeal however considered the French trademark invalid. The latter decision was upheld by the French Supreme Court in 2012.[31]

Netherlands - Louboutin vs. Van Haren

Also in 2013, in The Netherlands, Louboutin initiated litigation against Van Haren, seeking it to stop selling the red soled shoe "5th Avenue by Halle Berry", based also on the Benelux trademark. Litigation in this case is still ongoing, and the District Court of The Hague has proposed in 2015 to ask preliminary questions to the Court of Justice of the European Union that it considers necessary in order to determine whether the trademark is valid.[32]

United States - Christian Louboutin vs. Yves Saint Laurent

In 2011, Christian Louboutin company filed a US trademark infringement claim of its red-soled shoes against designer Yves Saint Laurent.[33] The firm is expecting that the YSL shoe design will be revoked and is seeking US$1 million in damages.[34] However, in August 2011, U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero denied the firm's request to stop the sale of women's shoes with red soles by Yves Saint Laurent. The judge questioned the validity of the trademark, writing, "Louboutin's claim would cast a red cloud over the whole industry, cramping what other designers do, while allowing Louboutin to paint with a full palette."[35] Judge Marrero also wrote, "Louboutin is unlikely to be able to prove its red outsole brand is entitled to trademark protection, even if it has gained enough public recognition in the market to have acquired secondary meaning."[36] In his thirty-two-page decision, Judge Marrero compared fashion designers to painters and noted how creativity for both is dependent upon using color as "an indispensable medium" that "plays a unique role." The Court observed that: "The law should not countenance restraints that would interfere with creativity and stifle competition by one designer, while granting another a monopoly invested with the right to exclude use of an ornamental or functional medium necessary for freest and most productive artistic expression by all engaged in the same enterprise."[37] Jewelry company Tiffany & Co., which has its blue box trademarked, filed an amicus curiae brief supporting the right to trademark a color.[38] In September 2012, the court finally ruled that Louboutin retains the exclusive right to use the color red on the bottom of its shoes whenever the outer portion of the shoe is any color besides red, while Yves Saint Laurent can continue to sell its shoes with red soles as long as the whole shoe is red.[39] The YSL monochromatic shoe – red upper, red outsole – over which the lawsuit originally had been brought and against which Louboutin had tried and failed to get a preliminary injunction, therefore won't infringe the trimmed-down trademark.[40]

Turnover and pricing[edit]

In his first year of business, Louboutin sold 200 pairs of shoes.[41] In 2012, he sold 700,000 a year[41] and expected revenue to grow at an annual rate of 40 percent.[42] In terms of market share, the U.S. accounts for 52 percent of Louboutin's sales; Europe, the Middle East and Russia, 30 percent; and Asia & Japan, 18 percent.[42] 95% of the firm's $300 million in annual revenue[43] comes from shoes,[42] with the remainder derived from purses and handbags.[42] They expect the volume of handbags to eventually represent 20% of their annual sales.[42]

Wholesale purchases represented in 2009 88% of the business.[42] Overseas, the company has partnered with Pedder Group of Hong Kong for distribution in their Asian markets and the Chalhoub Group of the United Arab Emirates for their representation in the Middle East.[44]

As of March 2012, the firm employed 420 staff members[45] (referred to as Loubi's Angels) around the world. Most of the footwear is manufactured and produced at his factory in Milan, but he also maintains a small atelier on Rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, for private clients and one of a kind creations.[2]

Louboutins can sell from $495 and up, with crystal-encrusted pairs costing up to $6,000.[2] The base price for a custom-made pair of Louboutin is $4,000. If the style already exists, it is standard price tag plus 30%.[2]