Trussardi

Trussardi began in Bergamo in 1911 as a glove workshop — Dante Trussardi's fine leather gloves supplied royal houses and, eventually, the Italian army — and the greyhound that became its emblem in 1973 announced the transformation: grandson Nicola Trussardi turned a glover into Milan's leather-lifestyle house, among the first Italian labels to think in total-brand terms, from bags to cars' interiors to restaurants.

Nicola's instinct for spectacle made the greyhound a Milanese fixture — he staged fashion's first show at La Scala and turned Piazza della Scala's Palazzo Trussardi into a cultural salon with a Michelin-starred café. The leather goods carried the argument: saffiano-textured bags and accessories built with glove-maker fineness.

The family era ended gradually — tragedy took Nicola in 1999 and his son Francesco in 2003; daughters Beatrice and Gaia carried it forward before investors took control. The house today is smaller than its myth, but the myth is the asset: a century of Italian leather, one lean silver dog.