Prada

Prada is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1913 in Milan by Mario Prada. It specializes in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, ready-to-wear, and other fashion accessories. Prada licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear and L’Oréal for fragrances.

The company was started in 1913 by Mario Prada and his brother Martino as Fratelli Prada, a leather goods shop in Milan. Initially, the shop sold animal goods, imported English steamer trunks, and handbags.

Mario Prada did not believe women should have a role in business, so he prevented female family members from entering his company. Ironically, Mario's son had no interest in the business, so it was Mario's daughter Luisa who succeeded Mario and ran Prada for almost twenty years. Luisa's daughter, Miuccia Prada, joined the company in 1970, eventually taking over from Luisa in 1978.

Miuccia began making waterproof backpacks out of Pocono, a nylon fabric. She met Patrizio Bertelli in 1977, an Italian who had begun his own leather goods business at the age of 24, and he joined the company soon after. He advised Miuccia on company business, which she followed. It was his advice to discontinue importing English goods and to change the existing luggage.