Guess Clothing was founded by brothers Paul and Maurice Marciano when they opened their first store in Beverly Hills in 1981. The store was an upscale boutique.
Guess soon began advertising and the company’s iconic black and white ads were developed.
The company originally produced and sold jeans for women, but men’s jeans were added in 1983.
In 1984 Guess watches were introduced. They continue to be popular today. Over the years the line of watches has been joined by other accessories lines.
After a lawsuit brought by the Department of Labor (DOL) in 1992 about the company’s failure to pay their workers minimum wage, Guess’s image was damaged and the company faced a severe downturn in sales.
In the 2000’s the company recovered and started to promote a different look and style. Guess ‘ clothing collection includes jeans, pants, skirts, dresses, shorts, blouses, jackets, knitwear, and intimate apparel.
Today Guess owns and operate 500 retail stores in the United States and Canada and 346 in Europe, Latin America, and Asia. Its lincencees and distributors operate another 866 stores outside of the U.S. and Canada.
Guess is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol GES, is a member of the S&P 400, is #778 on the Fortune 1000, has 14,600 employees, and had $2.57 billion in revenue in 2013.
