Prada

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Prada S.p.A. (/ˈprɑːdə/ PRAH-də, Italian: [ˈpraːda]) is an Italian luxury fashion house that was based in Milan, Italy. It specializes in leather handbags, travel trunks and accessories, beauty cases, shoes, ready-to-wear, perfumes, jewelries, cell phones and other accessories.

Prada was established in 1913 by Mario Prada and his sibling Martino as a leather goods shop named Fratelli Prada,where they opened the first store in the lofty Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan.[1] Mario's granddaughter, Miuccia Prada, joined the privately-run company in 1970. She met Patrizio Bertelli in 1977, an Italian business visionary who had started his own leather merchandise business at 24 years old, and he joined the organization as Miuccia's accomplice and Prada's business administrator. Miuccia inherited the company in 1978 by which time sales were up to U.S. $450,000 and married Bertelli in the same year.

By 2019, Prada had 429 stores for 13,779 representatives and produced US$3,225 million in income and US$3,18 million in profits.[2]

Controversy

Otto Toto as one of Pradamalia Series' Collectible Chain

On December 14, 2018, Prada was forced to pull a $550 keychain from its Pradamalia collection from its stores following complaints that was written on Facebook by Chinyere Ezie, a civil rights attorney and activist.[3] Ezie said that the design plan of Otto Toto, one of the Pradamalia series' collectible keychains, is the monkey-motivated that provoke criticism.. Sporting a dark wooden body and oversized red lips,the character, especially the ones in customer facing facade shows at the brand's store in New York City's SoHo area featured "blackface imagery" and were suggestive of Little Sambo, a character in a children’s book with representations that are viewed as plainly bigoted.[4]

Prada apologized publicly and stated in a tweet, "Prada Group never had the intention of offending anyone and we abhor all forms of racism and racist imagery. In this interest we will withdraw the characters in question from display and circulation." In response to the outrage, Prada assembled a diversity and inclusion advisory council co-chaired by Ava DuVernay and Theaster Gates.[5]

References