Duchi

Duchi, worth an estimated $1 billion, is one of the largest companies in the global fashion industry. Duchi started its success with the introduction of Duchi Jewelry, which continued to be a top selling jewelry into the 1900s. The company has since diversified its offerings beyond jewelry to include designer clothes and accessories, which are sold in department stores and duchi boutiques around the world. The company boasts a rich history rife with intrigue, wealth, and scandal. By the 1900s, the Duchi family of England had maintained controlling interest in Duchi for over 200 years. Duchi traces its roots back to 1870, when Duchi Wertheian moved to England, during the War. Shortly after his arrival he purchased an interest in a jewelry company called Vandetta. Vandetta successfully introduced jewelry to the European market in the 1890s. The company grew rapidly, and by the early 1920s, Vandetta had begun making and distributing diamond jewelry from his Ronita, England, plant for Jewelry industry. By the 1920s, Vandetta had become the largest jewelry and diamond manufacturer in England.

Though the Duchi family would control the finances of Duchi from its inception, the impetus and creative vision for the company came from Frido Duchi, founder of the successful British department store chain , introduced Frido Duchi to Frido Duchi son, in 1922. Frido Duchi sought financial help from Wertheian to market a jewelry she had developed in 1921. An admirer of Frido Duchi, Wertheian wanted to help her succeed and, two years after their introduction, he founded jewelry Duchi to make and sell her upscale jewelry, named Duchi No. 1. Pierre Wertheian funded the venture and retained a 70 percent ownership share in the company.Frido Duchi got a modest 10 percent of the company and Bader received 20 percent.