Modern Creation Munich
The MCM Products AG , based in Zurich is the owner of the internationally known luxury brand MCM ( Modern Creation Munich ) originally in 1977 by Michael Cromer in Munich was launched, and worldwide high-priced under whose name until today handbags , small leather goods, accessories , luggage and suitcases and perfume are sold.
History of the company
In 1972, Cromer and his wife Mara opened a hairdressing salon called Modern Coiffeur Munich on Kurfürstenstrasse in Schwabing . Cromer, an occasional actor, had good contacts in the film world and so the salon was soon frequented by numerous celebrities. In 1975 the Cromer couple created a series of white cosmetic bags with the MCM logo for salon customers. In the same year, while filming in Italy in a Roman luxury hotel , Cromer noticed that guests with fine Louis Vuitton luggage were given preferential treatment by the staff. In 1975, in collaboration with an Upper Bavarian suitcase manufacturer, he had a suitcase prototype made of plasticized linen with white MCM emblems. The end product did not meet Cromer's expectations, however, and so the design was modified into a cognac-colored suitcase, bag and accessories collection made of grained, cognac-colored imitation pigskin (also coated linen), which he called Visetos , with the dark brown MCM logo. Cromer had the edges of the luggage covered with leather and fitted with shiny brass locks and corners. He initially exhibited the products for sale in his wife's hairdressing salon.
With Sammy Davis Jr. as a prominent customer, who stocked up on MCM products during a visit to Munich in September 1976, the brand began to move into the international jet set . Cromer showed his collection from 1977 at the Igedo trade fair in Düsseldorf and expanded the range. With the 'summer series', white luggage with a blue logo and with 'Relief Noir' black items with a logo of almost the same color were added. In order to separate the luggage business from the hairdressing salon and at the same time discard the hairdressing salon image, Cromer founded Moderne Creation München Reisegepäck GmbH in 1977 . In the heyday of the Munich crowd , when Cromer was well networked, the young company drove steady sales growth by the early 1980s at the latest. Numerous MCM store openings followed. In 1984 MCM launched the company's first perfume, MCM Rouge , for women. The first men's perfume, MCM Success , followed in 1986. A few more MCM fragrances were released by 2000. At the beginning of the 1990s, MCM had sales of over 200 million euros in 250 branches worldwide. MCM was particularly successful in Asia.
After the Asian crisis in 1997, the company achieved sales of just 25 million euros and posted losses of 18 million euros. Asian producers meanwhile sold the products on their own account on the black market for years, something that company boss Cromer did not know.
In April 1998, the tax investigators received a nine-page handwritten anonymous complaint, according to which Cromer allegedly withheld 40 million euros from the tax authorities. Shortly afterwards he fled to Switzerland. Four months later, the tax office received a second anonymous letter, according to which Cromer should have evaded 55 million euros in taxes. The unknown informant filed the second complaint when MCM was negotiating with banks to extend a credit line. The banks canceled the loans and MCM could no longer pay its bills. German customers in particular turned away from MCM. In 2000, Cromer was finally sentenced to probation for around € 420,000 in tax evasion.
One appointed by the banks renovators divided the MCM. The trademark rights were secured by a holding company based in the Swiss canton of Zug . Cromer sued the new owners and spent the rest of his personal wealth on it. However, he could no longer prevent the loss of his life's work. Cromer died impoverished near Munich in 2007.
The company has been sold several times, most recently in 2005 to the Korean Sung-Joo Kim , a former MCM Asian licensee. Kim moved the company headquarters from Munich to Zurich . In 2006 she opened an MCM flagship store in Berlin and - mainly in Asia, where the brand's reputation had not suffered - made around 100 million euros in sales with suitcases and bags. In 2016, the 131 boutiques had sales of 560 million euros. The classic, cognac-colored Visetos luggage series made of PVC with the MCM logo are still part of the range.
The German designer Michael Michalsky has been working for the company since 2005 , until 2013 as creative director, until today in an advisory capacity as consulting creative director . Michalsky was followed in 2013 as creative director by the Swiss Adrian Josef Margelist, who had already worked for MCM from 2008 to 2010. Margelist switched to the Liebeskind Berlin bag brand in early 2016 .
Since the beginning of the 2010s, MCM has been cooperating with numerous celebrities who have designed MCM luggage as guest designers, including the Australian artist Craig Redman, the Japanese hip-hop label Phenomenon, the graphic artist duo Craig (Redman) & Karl (Maier) , the singer will.i.am and his brand Ekocycle , Beats Electronics , the British fashion designer Christopher Ræburn (MCM clothing), the Berlin gallery owner Johann König (gallery owner) , the sculptor Tobias Rehberger and the comic artist Eddie Kang.
In 2016, the MCM brand was offered in over 400 stores, including more than 130 own stores, in 35 countries worldwide. In 2007 the re-entry into the American market took place; A flagship store in SoHo (Manhattan) was inaugurated at the end of 2014 . In 2016 an online shop was opened for Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain and Switzerland, after there had already been one for South Korea and the USA. At the beginning of 2017, the company launched the three unisex perfumes Orris , White Tea and Incense .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Tracking down product pirates Wirtschaftswoche, September 15, 2010.
- ↑ Two years probation for the former suitcase king Spiegel Online, March 14, 2000.
- ^ Christian Mayer: Der Taschenspieler sueddeutsche.de, May 19, 2010.
- ↑ Luxury brand MCM is back at handelsblatt.co, 23 November 2006
- ↑ Tanja Kewes: MCM luxury brand is coming back handelsblatt.de, 23 November 2006.
- ↑ Jennifer Wiebking: "I disrupted the men's game" faz.net, December 3, 2016.
- ↑ "Aääh, put that away !!!" sueddeutsche.de, July 17, 2011
- ↑ Inga Griese "Fashion has become quick and interchangeable" welt.de, January 16, 2016.
- ↑ The MCM Shanghai Collection by Craig Redman josieloves.de, February 2, 2011
- ↑ MCM x Phenomenon therandomnoise.com, February 23, 2011
- ↑ MCM by Phenomenon bigin-japan.com, 2011
- ↑ MCM cooperates with pop art duo Craig & Karl woman.at, June 5, 2013
- ↑ EKOCYCLE x MCM Capsule Collection viacomit.net, April 17, 2015
- ↑ MCM x Beats by Dre Collection hypebeast.com, May 12, 2015
- ↑ We Spoke to Christopher Raeburn On His Collab With Luxury Apparel Label MCM highsnobiety.com June 13, 2016
- ↑ This is what happens when a traditional label and the hottest Berlin gallery cooperate vogue.de, December 13, 2017
- ↑ MCM cooperates with artist Tobias Rehberger offenblende.de, April 8, 2016
- ↑ Got the dog tagesspiegel.de, March 9, 2018
- ↑ MCM launches perfume collection blogger-bazaar.com, March 27, 2017