The iconically recognizable luggage of Louis Vuitton is a favorite of the rich and famous as well as street-side copycats. The monogrammed bags are a knock-off mainstay, and police recently shut down a slew of fake-purse-peddling websites as part of a Cyber Monday crackdown.
The Louis Vuitton brand is the mainstay of the Paris-based luxury powerhouse Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy. (Moet and Hennessy also rank among the Stengel 50.) Since its founding by a luggage maker's apprentice nearly two centuries ago, the brand has positioned itself as a leader in what Stengel calls "the art of travel." City guides were a natural extension of the product portfolio, and the company's international stores have become tourist destinations in and of themselves.
How its products went from nowhere to everywhere in the blink of an eye.
