The French luxury group Kering is continuing the relaunch of its flagship brand, which has been in difficulty for many months, with the appointment announced Tuesday of Stefano Cantino as general manager of Gucci.
Arriving at Kering this year, this former executive from the competing group LVMH, who previously worked at Prada, will “report to Francesca Bellettini, deputy general director of Kering in charge of home development,” the group said in a press release.
On January 1, he will succeed Jean-François Palus as general director of Gucci. This close friend of Kering’s CEO, François-Henri Pinault, was appointed in July 2023 as interim head of Gucci to take control of the brand and put it on the path to recovery.
Stefano Cantino will sit on the Kering executive committee.
“I am confident in the ability of Stefano and the Gucci team, building on what has been built over the last 15 months, to succeed in their mission to restore Gucci to the leadership that the brand deserves,” said declared Francesca Bellettini, quoted in the press release.
In the first half, Gucci’s sales fell 20%, falling to 4 billion euros. However, the Italian brand represents almost 50% of Kering’s turnover and two thirds of its operational profitability.
All solutions have been implemented for several months to save the Gucci soldier: change of artistic director in January 2023 with the arrival of Sabato de Sarno, change of direction, “elevation of the brand” with more expensive products…
– “Particularly complex period”-
However, the recovery of the Italian brand is still awaited and risks still being delayed by the situation in China. The brand is in fact more dependent on the Chinese market than other competing luxury brands.
This Tuesday, luxury stocks on the Paris Stock Exchange took the hit from Beijing’s failure to announce new stimulus measures to support Chinese economic growth.
Kering’s action lost 4.45%, closing at 236.35 euros, and the giant LVMH lost 3.57%, to 655.50 euros.
“Our priority is to get Gucci back on track,” François-Henri Pinault said at the beginning of February, specifying that “will not happen overnight.”
“We did not have sufficient expertise and talent in place in key positions in the company,” he explained, emphasizing that luxury requires “very strong” expertise in sales, merchandising. or supply.
Stefano Cantino joined Gucci last May as deputy general director of the brand, after a five-year career at Louis Vuitton (LVMH group), where he oversaw communications and image. Previously, he spent 20 years with the Prada group.
François-Henri Pinault, also quoted in the press release on Tuesday, praised Jean-François Palus who, “in a particularly complex period,” took the courageous decisions that the house needed and laid the solid foundations for a new Gucci thrives under Stefano’s leadership.”
“I would also like to salute the close and constant collaboration of Jean-François over the last 30 years, which has been of inestimable support to me,” he adds.
Kering does not specify whether Jean-François Palus, 62, will take other positions within the group in January.
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