• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, September 22, 2010 9:55 AM

"Every single brand in the universe, especially in this industry, is talking about heritage -- even when there's no heritage, no history," says Gucci CEO Patrizio di Marco. "Consumers are into substance."

Well, it just so happens that Gucci does have a history, as well as a woman's designer, Frida Giannini, who has been pushing the brand's heritage for about five years now, "critics be damned." It turns out, Christina Passariello reports, that products like the New Bamboo bag (an update of a 1947 classic) and the "Flora" collection of bags (inspired by a 1960s scarf created for Grace Kelly) have been successful commercially.

For several years, Gucci's own stores got stuck on selling less-expensive, "aspirational" logo items such as the "GG" monogram canvas bags. But di Marco, who joined the company last year, is determined to repair what he sees as a cheapening of the brand's image. "Gucci was going too mass-market, too commercial, too much on opening price points," he tells Passariello.

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