Prada is an Italian fashion company (also known as a "fashion label" or "fashion house"). It has shops and products around the world.

History 
The company, originally named Prada Brothers, was started in 1913 by Mario Prada in Milan, Italy. Mario Prada did not believe that women should have a role in business and prevented any female family members from joining his company.

However when he died in 1958, his son had no interest in running the company so his daughter, Luisa Prada, took over and ran the company until 1978. 

Miuccia Prada, Luisa’s daughter, took over then and has been running the company since. Miuccia made the company bigger by giving it a more bohemian style.

Miu Miu is a second clothing, which is often simpler, and fits with the 'high' image of vintage items. Miu Miu is the nickname of Miuccia Prada when she was a child. After, Prada Sport 'Linea Rossa' was made.

Today, Prada is seen as one of the most important clothing designers in fashion.

Buying and Joining with other companies 
After many other fashion companies started to buy or join with many other fashion companies, Prada tried to do the same thing. It went into debt so that it could buy Fendi in the early 1990s. Fendi was not making much money, and needed help. Prada could not help Fendi, so it sold it to LVMH. Prada is still in debt after buying Fendi. In 1999, the company bought "Church's", an English company that makes quality shoes. More recently 45% of "Church's" has been sold to Equinox.

Other big buys by Prada in the 1990s were Helmut Lang and Jil Sander. However, by 2006, Prada had sold both. Jil Sander was sold to 'Change Capital Partners', which is run by Luc Vandevelde (the chairman of Carrefour). Helmut Lang is now owned by Japanese fashion company 'Link Theory'.

Products made with other companies 
In May 2007, Prada and mobile phone maker LG Electronics worked together to make the LG Prada (KE850) phone. The phones were sold for $800 each.

Prada Foundation
The Prada Foundation () is a foundation  dedicated to contemporary art and culture. It was founded in 1993. It is run by Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli. The foundation promotes art exhibitions and movie festivals.

The main site of the foundation is in Milan on Largo Isarco. The foundation also has a special gallery for photographs in the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan and a site in Venice at the Palazzo Corner della Regina,

Buildings

Architects 
Prada has paid for several famous architects, the most famous are Rem Koolhaas and Herzog & de Meuron, to make their shops around the world.

Prada Marfa 
In 2005, near the West Texas towns, Valentine and Marfa, two Scandinavian artists, Emily Milne and Zoe Brown, opened 'Prada Marfa', a sculpture of a Prada mini-boutique. The sculpture is on U.S. Highway 90 and is a long way from any other buildings. Prada helped pay for the building, which is 15 by 25-foot. The building does not actually sell clothes, but there are clothes in the window, as this is just for art.

Prada boutiques and megastore 

Prada has 9 small shops and 2 big stores in the USA

Small shops in the USA:
New York (Fifth Avenue & Madison Avenue)
Chicago
San Francisco
Bal Harbour
Las Vegas
Ala Moana Center 
Waikiki
Aspen
Manhasset, NY 
Boston (June 2008)

Big shops in the world:
New York (SoHo)
Beverly Hills
Tokyo

Prada in media 
A book named The Devil Wears Prada was made in 2003, about an 'evil' boss who is selfish and vain, wearing designer clothes, like Prada.
A movie, The Devil Wears Prada (movie) was made from the book.
There is also a band named 'The Devil Wears Prada'.

Related pages
Fashion
LG Prada

Similar brands:
Gucci
Versace
Fendi
Giorgio Armani
Dolce & Gabbana

References

Italian fashion houses
1913 establishments in Italy