The article focuses on the commercial relationship between the most famous Polish fashion house Bogusław Herse and Parisian fashion houses. The Warsaw-based Bogusław Herse was a large and respected company. The reputation of this fashion house was well known in Warsaw and other cities of the Polish lands. The geopolitics of the nineteenth century meant that the Kingdom of Poland, including Warsaw, was occupied by the Russian Empire at that time. Polish companies, including Bogusław Herse, operated in the market of the Kingdom of Poland and the Russian Empire. If any company had good contacts in Western Europe, it could then try to trade between the East and the West. The House of Herse was founded by Bogusław Maciej Herse (1839–1880) in cooperation with Władysław Jerzykiewicz (1837–1920). After some time, Herse’s partner left the partnership. Bogusław Herse was joined by his two brothers, Adam Szczepan Herse (1850–1915) and Ferdynand Robert Herse (1845–1905). The Herse family managed to develop the Herse name and begin promoting Polish and Western fashion. They brought clothes from the best Parisian houses to the fashion house in Warsaw as well as selling their own clothes. The House of Herse also travelled to St Petersburg to promote Parisian fashions and their own clothes to women in Russia. At that time, the Warsaw company was a window onto Parisian fashion in Warsaw and St Petersburg. The activity of Herse in St Petersburg is an important element of the history of the European exclusive clothing trade. It also gives an idea of the commercial importance of smaller houses in creating an international market.
Przemysław Krystian Faryś (Sun,) studied this question.