Claim: Gucci is Italian.

Gucci -LRB- -LSB- guːtʃi -RSB- -LSB- ˈɡuttʃi -RSB- -RRB- is an Italian luxury brand of fashion and leather goods , part of the Gucci Group , which is owned by the French holding company Kering . Gucci was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence in 1921 .  Gucci generated about $ 4.2 billion in revenue worldwide in 2008 according to BusinessWeek and climbed to 41st position in the magazine 's annual 2009 `` Top Global 100 Brands '' chart created by Interbrand ; it retained that rank in Interbrand 's 2014 index . Gucci is also the biggest-selling Italian brand .   Gucci operates about 278 directly operated stores worldwide as of September 2009 , and it wholesales its products through franchisees and upscale department stores . In the year 2013 , the brand was valued at US$ 12.1 billion , with sales of US$ 4.7 billion . In the Forbes World 's Most Valuable Brands list , Gucci is ranked the 38th most valuable brand , with a brand value of $ 12.4 billion as of May 2015 . As of January 2015 , the creative director is Alessandro Michele .