Product Code Database
Paolo Gucci (29 March 1931 – 10 October 1995) was an Italian businessman and fashion designer. He was the one-time chief designer and vice-president of Gucci. He is credited with helping design Gucci's famous double G logo.
In 1980, Paolo secretly launched his own business using the Gucci name without telling his father, nor his uncle Rodolfo Gucci. When they found out, they were both infuriated and fired him from Gucci in September 1980. In addition, his father Aldo sued him, threatening to cut off any Gucci supplier who signed on with Paolo.
In 1984, seeking revenge, Paolo got his father Aldo removed from the company with the help of his cousin Maurizio Gucci, who had recently become the majority shareholder. In addition, Paolo also tipped off the IRS about his father's tax evasion. In 1986, Aldo was sentenced to one year and one day in prison for tax evasion. In 1987, Paolo sold all his shares in Gucci to Investcorp for $42.5 million. Due to divorce proceedings and bad business advice, he filed for bankruptcy in 1993.
In 1994, Paolo was incarcerated for five weeks due to unpaid alimony and child support to Puddefoot. Court-imposed restrictions on his ability to use his name in design limited his income. Paolo ultimately appeared voluntarily in New York court, where he was taken into custody and held at the Bronx County House of Detention, where he was described as a well-behaved inmate.
During this time, Paolo pursued bankruptcy in New York, reportedly on the advice of an associate, resulting in significant depletion of his estate. Gucci America eventually acquired Paolo’s design rights, later preventing Puddefoot and her daughter from licensing products under the Gucci name. Paolo Gucci died in London on October 10, 1995, at age 64, due to chronic hepatitis, amid ongoing New York divorce proceedings.
The blazon, as recorded in the Archives of Firenze, is as follows: "Blue, three red poles bordered with silver; a head of gold, to the right a blue wheel, and to the left a red rose." ("D'azzurro, a tre pali di rosso bordati d'argento; e al capo d'oro caricato a destra di una ruota d'azzurro, e a sinistra di una rosa di rosso.")
Translation: "Family of San Miniato; Giacinto Gucci and his brothers were admitted to the nobility of San Miniato in 1763 (on that occasion it is declared that the family had come from Cremona in 1224); Giuseppe di Gaetano Gucci, on the other hand, was admitted to the nobility of Fiesole in 1839. Francesco di Benedetto Gucci obtained Florentine citizenship in 1601, for the Golden Lion banner; Giovanni Battista by Giovan Piero Gucci obtained it in 1634, in the Scala banner."
Court documents, records, and subsequent rulings indicate that, because the Gucci family trademarked the coat-of-arms in 1955, the trademark transferred with the sale of the Gucci company by Maurizio Gucci to Investcorp, and subsequent company owners, in 1993. However, Uberto Gucci (born 1960), the son of Roberto Gucci, the nephew of Paolo Gucci, and the grandson of Aldo Gucci, claims that the Gucci family still has the right to use the ancestral Gucci coat-of-arms.
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