Top 20 Clothing Brands in the World

Ladies and gentlemen, get ready as you are about to read about top 20 clothing brands in the world!

I claim, there is no women alive that would refuse a piece of haute couture clothes designed by Dior, Balenciaga or almost every other Italian designer. Even though they are among the most expensive clothing brands in the world, some would say it is absolutely worth it! I cannot say that I agree. There are many beautiful clothes that can be quite cheap or let’s just say, cheaper than the prices of high fashion clothes. Zara, as such, offers quite qualitative pieces for reasonable prices. Also, there are others such as Mango, Aldo and many more brands that have an interesting offer as well as prices. But, if you are wealthy enough and love to spend money on clothes, then choose smart and go for the best! In addition, we advise you to have a look at the 10 Most Expensive Clothing Brands for Men and 10 Most Popular Clothing Brands for Guys. Girls, don’t take this as a threat, in our article, there is a lot of women clothing brands as well!

When we say “the best” and “top” in fashion, it can mean lots of things. First, it can mean the best quality clothes which are closely related to expensiveness. Secondly, it can mean the most popular ones, in terms what type of clothes is sold the most. Thirdly, we mustn’t forget that something is “in” when celebrities start to wear it. So, the fashion is changeable variable considering all this. Top clothing brands, therefore, change very often. Apparel Costing blog made a list of top 100 clothing brands that I found very interesting. Also, there are much more luxury fashion brands lists online than the commercial ones. Also, they are all concentrated on a couple of countries such as France, Italy and the US. True, they are offering top clothing brands for men and women, but then again they are limiting our choice of clothing. What they offer is what are we going to wear in one way or another. But, what about top clothing brands in India, for example? According to Buddymantra, those are Allen Solly and Provogue. Sounds familiar?

If not, top clothing brands for 2016 will sound for sure. Two years ago, Craig Grain, Vetements and Gucci were one of the favorites, according to the Hype Beast. In order to create a list for this year, the first thing we ought to do was to define the meaning of the “top.” As mentioned earlier, “top” for fashion brands could mean so many things. Therefore, we decided to give a significance of luxurious, stylish and how many times the brand was worn on the red carpets. So, we had three steps in our research. First, we checked suggestions for top luxury fashion brands on websites such as This is Insider and The Complex. Second, we look for the most stylish ones suggested by the Hype Beast and the Style Craze. Finally, as the Oscar is not just a film orientated, but fashion orientated show as well, we checked the Hollywood Reporter for the fashion clothing brands that were worn the most. By comparing those three lists, we calculated the average and made our genuine list. The ranking of the top 20 clothing brands in the world goes from the least popular fashion brand to the most popular one. You will be surprised to see that they are not all best women’s clothing brands, but men’s as well.

Voila!

20. Moschino

Italian fashion brand Moschino was founded in 1983 by Franco Moschino. It is specialized in leather accessories, shoes, luggage and many more. They have over 150 boutiques worldwide, but the headquarters is in Milan, Italy.

19. Calvin Klein

One of the top fashion brands for men’s suits is definitely Calvin Klein. It is an American fashion house founded by designer Calvin Klein and his friend Barry K. Schwartz. The company is headquartered in New York City, and currently, its creative director is a famous designer, Raf Simons.

18. Yves Saint Laurent

One of my favorite top 20 clothing brands in the world is definitely Yves Saint Laurent. It is a French luxury fashion house founded by Yves Saint Laurent and his partner, Pierre Bergé, in 1961. Its headquarters are in, of course, only the most fashionable city – Paris. From 2016, Anthony Vaccarello was appointed as the creative director.

17. Burberry

I think there is not one person who is reading this article and don’t know about Burberry trench coat! This British luxury fashion house has headquarters in London, but it is partially owned by Luxottica, an Italian company. Besides trench coats, ready-to-wear outerwear, fashion accessories, fragrances, sunglasses, and cosmetics is what they sell the most. It was established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry.

16. Vivienne Westwood

Just in 2013, this British fashion designer has made $48.9 million from annual group sales. Moreover, she has dressed actresses for red carpets such as Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, and Jessica Alba. She brought to the scene modern punk and new wave fashions.

15. Ralph Lauren

Ralph Lauren is mostly known for his polo sweaters. However, he has many more fashion endeavors to show! For one of the red carpets, he dressed Penelope Cruz, Johnny Depp, Diane Keaton, Oprah Winfrey, Blake Lively, Taylor Swift and Madonna. He is most remembered by the pink gown that Gwyneth Paltrow wore when she accepted her Oscar for best actress in 1999.

14. Hermes

On the 14th place on our list of top 20 clothing brands in the world is Hermès of Paris, or simply Hermès. This French high fashion luxury brand was established in 1837. It specializes in leather, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Its current creative director is Nadège Vanhee-Cybulski.

13. Prada

I don’t know if you are aware how old is this fashion brand — it’s 105 years old!! It was founded by Marco Prada in 1913 in Milan, and back then it was named Fratello Prada. Later, it changed the name. Besides the clothes, this fashion brand is specialized in leather handbags, travel accessories, shoes, perfumes and other fashion accessories.

12. Oscar de la Renta

Oscar de la Renta was a Dominican-American fashion designer who was born in Santo Domingo. However, he lived almost his whole life in the US. Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo taught him all he knew about fashion and that in addition made him famous internationally in the 1960s. He is most famous for the fact that he was one of the couturiers who dressed Jacqueline Kennedy. He also worked for Lanvin and Balmain.

11. Louis Vuitton

On the 11th place of our top 20 clothing brands in the world is Louis Vuitton or shortly, LV. From 2006 to 2012, this brand was named the world’s most valuable luxury brand. Back then it’s worth was US$25.9 billion! This French fashion house was founded in Paris in 1854 by Louis Vuitton. Top red carpet moment was custom-made leather and tweed dress worn by Jennifer Connelly.

10. Lanvin

This French fashion house was founded in 1889 by Jeanne Lanvin. In 1990, the house was taken over by the Orcofi Group and then sold to l’Oréal in 1996. The current creative director is Bouchra Jarrar for women’s collection.

9. Givenchy

Besides clothes, Givenchy also has accessories and Parfums Givenchy, which sells perfumes and cosmetics. It is brand of haute couture clothing which was founded in 1952 by designer Hubert de Givenchy. Today it is owned by luxury conglomerate LVMH, while its current artistic director is Clare Waight Keller.

8. Armani

Armani is an Italian fashion house founded by Giorgio Armani in 1975. This brand is designing, manufacturing, distributing, and retailing haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, watches, jewelry, accessories, eyewear, cosmetics and home interiors, under several labels. Headquarters are based in Milan, Italy.

7. Versace

This Italian brand was founded in 1978 by Gianni Versace. The main collection of the brand is Versace, which produces upmarket Italian-made ready-to-wear and leather accessories, while on the other hand, there are other lines such as the Versace Collection (in the US), Versus Versace and Versace Jeans. The headquarters are in Milan.

6. Dolce & Gabbana

This popular Italian fashion brand was founded in 1985 by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana in Legnano, a small city in Lombardi. They, however, met before in 1980 while designing for the same fashion house in Milan. For Dolce, the biggest red carpet moment was Matthew Mc Conaughey at the 2014 Oscars, while for Gabbana that moment took Madonna in 1991 in New York.

5. Chanel

On the fifth place on our list of top 20 clothing brands in the world is one and only, Chanel! This everlasting fashion house is now owned by Alain Wertheimer and Gérard Wertheimer. The brand is 109 years old with 310 locations all over the world. Besides clothing, they also offer perfumes.

4. Valentino SpA

Valentino’s dresses are something that for sure didn’t pass unnoticed on almost every red carpet. This clothing brand was founded in 1960 by Valentino Garavani. It is headquartered in Milan, while the creative direction is in Rome.

3. Dior

This brand was founded in 1946 by designer Christian Dior. Today it has 210 locations, and it is one of the most famous brands for haute couture. Besides that, the company also designs and retails ready-to-wear, leather, fashion accessories, footwear, jewelry, etc.

2. Balenciaga

Balenciaga ranks second on our list of top 20 clothing brands in the world. It is a luxury fashion house founded in Spain by Cristóbal Balenciaga, in 1919. Cristobal had such a good reputation that he was and was referred to as “the master of us all” by Christian Dior. His house is now owned by the French multinational company Kering, with headquarters in Paris.

1. Gucci

On the top of our list of top 20 clothing brands in the world is Gucci! This Italian luxury fashion brand was founded by Guccio Gucci in Florence, in 1921. It is the highest selling Italian brand that operates around 278 stores worldwide. In 2013 the brand value was estimated to be US$12.1 billion, with sales of US$4.7 billion.

This wraps it up for our list of top 20 clothing brands in the world.