Merak, Inc., owned and presided by Marco Frachesen, has been in the luxury fashion accessories business since 1984. Marco Frachesen, born in Caracas, Venezuela, of Italian speaking European parents moved to Canada as a child and then to the United States and Italy. Marco began the business of distribution of Italian luxury accessories brands in 1984 when he was given rights to distribute selected collections produced by such brands as Gucci, Trussardi, Helena Rubinstein, Loris Azzaro, Uno-A-Erre and Fendi in duty free and domestic markets of the Americas. In 1990 the exclusive Italian producer of women’s and men’s shoes, accessories and other high-fashion items, Salvatore Ferragamo, appointed Merak, Inc. its sole distributor for the Caribbean market, Central and South America. By this time, Merak had narrowed down its other distributions to Fendi, whose owners, the Fendi family, had developed a personal relationship with Mr. Frachesen.
By January of 1992, Fendi entrusted Merak with the exclusive distribution of its products in the duty free markets of the Americas as well as various domestic markets of Central and South America. As its business with Fendi flourished, Mr. Frachesen decided to focus their company’s full attention on that brand. Merak opened a spectacular showroom to exhibit the Fendi products on the Swire-owned island of Brickell Key near downtown Miami. Represented chiefly was a large array of leather goods, namely the enormously fashionable handbags (the core of the business) complemented by ties, scarves, sunglasses, ready-to-wear, shoes, fur shawls and more, all of which were renewed twice yearly with the Spring-Summer and Autumn-Winter Collections. In 1995, in harmony with the steady escalation of his business collaboration, Merak became the Authorized Worldwide Duty Free Partner of Fendi accessories, while continuing and growing its exclusive distribution of Fendi in various domestic markets through the world. Until the year 2002, Merak single handedly developed Fendi in the domestic and worldwide duty free channel of distribution, managing an extensive portfolio of clients stretching from The Americas to Asia and having created full-fledged boutiques and personalized areas for Fendi around the world with sales at times representing most of Fendi’s worldwide sales. Merak, Inc.’s current offices are located in Coral Gables, Florida.