Gucci and Louis Vuitton are the only two luxury brands to have been ranked among the top global brands every year since 2000, according to a 2019 report by marketing and consulting firm Interbrand.

But despite meeting at the top of the market sector, Gucci and Louis Vuitton had extremely different paths to the luxury summit.

After years of stagnating sales, Gucci ended up as 2019's fastest growing luxury company with a brand valuation of $15.9 billion, according to Interbrand.

Meanwhile, Interbrand ranks Louis Vuitton as the world's most valuable luxury brand. The company started off the century with a $1.7 billion lead in brand valuation over Gucci and has been on the rise ever since.

Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times — and in the luxury sector, only Gucci and Louis Vuitton can truly say they conquered both.

A 2019 report released by marketing and consulting firm Interbrand revealed that Gucci and Louis Vuitton are the only two luxury brands to have remained ranked among the world's most valuable every year since 2000 — a feat not even achieved by other luxury giants like Burberry, Fendi, Prada, Hermès, or Cartier.

Louis Vuitton — the world's most valuable luxury brand, per Interbrand's 2019 report — started the century with a $1.7 billion lead in brand value over Gucci, and at the turn of the 2010s, it was nearly $13 billion ahead of the Italian fashion house.

But today, Gucci is the world's fastest growing luxury brand, with a brand valuation of $15.9 billion — though it's still trailing behind Louis Vuitton's current $32.2 billion valuation.

Despite the difference, however, both Houses have held steady enough to remain at the top of the luxury sector, and their separate journeys also highlight the increasing competition between the conglomerates that own them — Louis Vuitton's parent company LVMH and Gucci's parent company Kering.

For decades, LVMH and Kering have been in the ruling class of luxury goods, and the trajectories of Gucci and Louis Vuitton may reveal why.