"In 1942, the city of Paris was rife with shortages. While World War II would be over for the French within a couple of years, the wartime shortages were not winding down. In fact, for several years, the French government, faced with mounting deficiencies  and the inability to seamlessly transport goods among various cities across the country, had been observing a legally-established system of rationing, which saw the aggressive control of everything from bread and raw materials to gasoline and paper products."

"For one company, a then-105-year-old, family-owned leather goods and apparel manufacturer named Hermès, one immediate impact of the enduring scarcity was its inability to acquire its usual product packaging. Neither the creamy beige and gold cardboard boxes nor the rich marigold-hued ones with a shade of bronze running along the corners that it had traditionally used to package its high-end offerings were accessible. The boxes that had “defined Hermès’ elegance” for decades were no longer within its reach."

"As the brand’s story goes, the only packaging that was available – and offered up to Hermès by its supplier – came in a vibrant orange, 'the color nobody wanted.' Given the option of adopting a bright new hue for its boxes or being left without packaging for its equestrian-centric leather goods and growing businesses of handbags and ready-to-wear, which were first incorporated into the house’s offerings in the 1920s, Hermès chose the former, and 'the orange Hermès box was born.'"

Article: A Shortage of Product Packaging During WWII Led to the Birth of Hermès’ Famous Orange Color Mark