Funding Coco
The family business opened in 1923, when Theophile Bader, owner of French department store Galeries Lafayette, introduced perfume manufacturers Paul and Pierre Wertheimer to designer Gabrielle Chanel.
Known as Coco, Chanel was looking for ways to expand sales of her No. 5 fragrance that she’d begun selling in 1921, 11 years after her first boutique opened in Paris.
Les Parfums Chanel was established on April 4, 1924, with the Wertheimers taking a 70 percent interest, Bader 20 percent and Chanel the remainder, according to Mazzeo.
The scent’s success soured relations between Chanel and the Wertheimers, and when the Jewish brothers fled Paris in 1940 as German troops advanced on the city, Chanel attempted to take control of the business.
She wrote to the Nazi occupiers in 1941, according to Mazzeo, arguing that Les Parfums Chanel was Jewish property and so should be redistributed, namely to her. She was foiled by the Wertheimers, who before leaving Paris had passed their stake to industrialist Felix Amiot, who’d agreed to hold it for them during the occupation to prevent it from being seized.
Brand Integrity
Relations slowly improved following the war, and after Paul’s death, Pierre bought out Bader and then Chanel, agreeing to fund her couture house and pay all her bills -- including her taxes -- for the rest of her life.
In return he took full control of Chanel’s fashion and business operations in 1954, according to Mazzeo, passing the company to Jacques on his death in 1965. The business passed to Alain and Gerard in 1996.
“They’ve done the best job of any company at preserving the integrity of the brand,” said Financo’s Harrison. “The Wertheimer family, which is extremely private, has protected the brand like no other.”