Aldo Gucci Quotes

During the 1970s, one event dramatically changed Gucci’s ownership structure: Vasco died of lung cancer on May 31, 1974, at the age of sixty-seven. Under Italian inheritance law, his one-third stake in the company passed to his widow, Maria. They had no children. Aldo and Rodolfo proposed to pay her for the shares in order to keep the ownership of the company in the family, and to their relief, she agreed. Aldo and Rodolfo became the sole controlling shareholders of the Gucci empire, with 50 percent each—a shareholding ratio that would profoundly condition Gucci’s future. Rodolfo, still stubbornly pursuing his confrontation with Maurizio, refused to consider sharing company ownership with him, but Aldo felt it was time to bring his boys into the Gucci mother company.

Another of Aldo’s successful moves was to reward his best customers with VIP cards that enabled them to visit the exclusive upper section where, without any pushing and shoving, they could pick and choose among new models still waiting to be launched.

The bitterness of poor quality remains long after the sweetness of low price is forgotten. —ALDO GUCCI