History

Gerard was born from an idea of ​​Paolo Pecchioli aimed at satisfying the continuous needs of youth fashion, which it will materialize with the opening of the first store in 1969 in via Calimala. The choice of the "Gerard" brand came during the many research trips to Paris and London in the 70s and its immediate success immediately identified it as an avant-garde reference brand for the transgressive youth fashion without renouncing elegance and sobriety, contextualizing itself at the historical moment of global break with conventions typical of those years, it finds confirmation in the new one opening in 1979 in Milan which consecrates it as a trendy place for the musical and cinematographic world. In 1980, consolidated his success in Italy, Gerard opened a new reality in Tokyo, a cosmopolitan city par excellence, where Paolo Pecchioli's experience merges with Japanese production skills will lead to the opening of five stores, including Kyoto and Karuizawa. It will be the historic P.za Signoria to host Gerard from 1981 to 2013, a period in which thanks to the continuous e careful research carried out will witness the emergence of important brands up to now little known as Stone Island, Thierry Mugler, Dirk Bikkembergs, Romeo Gigli and Marc Jacobs. The continuous contact and comparison with new realities in the sector will lead to a renewal of the brand Gerard, finding expression in the creation of new collections that will allow access to European and world market. The experience acquired and consolidated over these 32 years will lead Gerard to renew itself in 2013, offering a completely single-brand product in the new headquarters in P.za Strozzi, creating a shop different from the conventional, where the essence of craftsmanship emerges and finds maximum expression, starting from the structural choices such as the walls completely frescoed with oil, up to its product, union of made in Italy manufacturing with fabrics from all over the world. Even today Gerard, after more than 40 years from its first opening, with his style, represents in Florence an important and unique point of reference for contemporary fashion trends.