
Executive editor Brian Baskin sits down with sustainability correspondent Sarah Kent and senior correspondent Sheena Butler-Young to untangle the future of DEI and ESG in a hostile political environment.
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Francois Henri Pinault
Foreign.
Brian Baskin
Hello and welcome to the Debrief from the Business of Fashion, where each week we delve into our most popular BOF professional stories with the correspondents who created them. I'm Executive editor Brian Baskin.
Sheena Butler Young
And I'm senior Correspondent Sheena Butler Young 2024 was, to quote Bernstein analyst Lucasolka and Anna's horribulous for caring. Gucci's sales plunged 24 in the fourth quarter, with Kering's overall sales falling 12%. The company's stock actually rose slightly after the results came out, but only because investors were already bracing for the worst after three consecutive quarters of double digit declines. But of course, numbers don't always tell the full story. On their latest earnings call, Kering Chairman and CEO Francois Henri Pinault sounded optimistic.
Francois Henri Pinault
The strategy we are implementing consistently since we became carrying a pure player in luxury is unchanged. We have demonstrated in the past that we know how to grow brands and.
Robert Williams
We will do it again.
Francois Henri Pinault
Gucci will come back. I have absolutely no doubts about this.
Sheena Butler Young
If and when Gucci does come back, it will be without creative director Sabado Desarno, who was fired after less than two years on the job. Pinault is confident about the future of Kering, but should he be? To break it all down, we're joined by BoF's luxury editor Robert Williams. Hi Robert. Welcome back to the Debrief podcast.
Francois Henri Pinault
Hi Sheena. Hi Brian. Thanks so much for having me.
Brian Baskin
Thanks so much for joining us, Robert. Most of our audience knows what caring is and why Gucci is so important to the fate of that company. But I also know my mom is listening and she does not know what Kering is and I'm sure there are more listeners like her. So just to start things off, can you give us a really quick summary of that company and its place in the luxury world and why Gucci is so important to them.
Francois Henri Pinault
Kering has emerged over the past 15 or so years as a really important competitor to LVMH and Richemont. Kering was formed from Gucci Group, which was the company that was run by Tom Ford with Domenico Del sole throughout the 90s and really saw the renaissance of Gucci and then started to form a group when it acquired and merged with Bottega, Veneta and Saint Laurent when Gucci was under quite a bit of financial pressure. They were looking for a white knight investor to make sure they didn't get absorbed by the same big machine that had absorbed Givenchy and Louis Vuitton and Dior and Francois Pinault Sr. Who is not involved in the company anymore, but is still the chairman of its holding, which also owns Christie's and operates as a charitable foundation. A couple really important contemporary art museums. He emerged as this white knight investor who helped to kind of save Gucci from being a part of lvmh. Over the years, that became a really important and historic development for the fashion industry, because people who want to work in luxury in France and want to have that support of maybe a big corporation, but don't want to do it at lvmh, you know, they have another option because of the success that we've seen over the years at Gucci, which is still, you know, based in Italy, and Bottega Veneta, which is also based in Italy, but also Saint Laurent, which mainly produces in Italy, but is based in Paris, and Balenciaga, which are the main brands at Kering. Kering's, run by Francois Henri Pinault, which is Pinault's son, who you guys know as the French guy who's married to Salma Hayek. If you're not familiar with fashion, you would see him with her. And recently he acquired, through his family's holding company, caa, because he is also very interested in the entertainment industry as well as art culture, kind of other things in addition to fashion. But carrying the group is just operating the jewelry and fashion brands.
Brian Baskin
But really the underpinnings of the whole operation here is still Gucci, right? I mean, there's something like, like half of revenue, 2/3 of profits. It's really everything depends on the success of that brand.
Francois Henri Pinault
Absolutely. Gucci has always been the core of this group and kind of its big profit center. Financial analysts would say, like, this kind of group is only going to be as strong as its most profitable kind of biggest anchor brand. You know, in the case of lvmh, they over the years have built this empire by being able to kind of reinvest a lot of profits from Louis Vuitton into doing so many other things. At Richemont, that happens with Cartier and at Kering, often we see a performance and the trajectory of this group that maybe yo yos a bit more that isn't quite as much of a straight line because Gucci has this strong identity as a fashion brand. It's had a few really big booms, but then also some pretty big busts afterward. And so with it kind of that does create additional complications for the group and how much they're able to invest in acquiring new brands, in developing the brands they have. And honestly, just, you know, Continuing to exist because, you know, it's very profitable. I shouldn't say continuing to exist because I don't think it's gone loss making like it's not that bad yet.
Sheena Butler Young
Well, I want to talk about how bad it is. Speaking of personal references, I tie the recent boom of Gucci to the purchase of my glasses three years ago when it felt like they were really doing well and I was proud to wear this particular pair of glasses. How bad is the bust that we're seeing now? Because you said it already that these brands do boom and bust. Is this a really detrimental one or is this just a run of the mill downturn moment for Gucci?
Francois Henri Pinault
You know, it is pretty dramatic to have seen, you know, sales falling by about 20% this past year and now carrying therefore down about 12%. You know, this is their most profitable brand and with it being under so much pressure, it's really unclear then how you can invest in a turnaround. I think maintaining market share share has always been a challenge for them. Even though it is a big brand that gained a lot of market share in the first few years under Alessandro Michele, the brand grew really rapidly. But then ever since then, you know, figuring out how much to invest and where in order to keep growing or to even just solidify its business hasn't been super clear. How serious this downturn is is not always completely obvious because, you know, there have been some really weak points in Gucci's business that people have pointed out over the years. They have a pretty strong exposure to outlet to unparallel market resellers. You know, maybe people who buy at a discount somewhere at like a big department store at a wholesaler and then will resell that back in another country after getting a tax rebate. There is certainly kind of maybe a lower quality, less controlled dimension to Gucci's business that they've talked about kind of weeding out for years and years. And so now it's unclear maybe and not, it's not always evident to what extent the current downturn is about weakness in that core luxury business, in the stores and about the broader company and how much they're kind of trying to cut out the parts of the business they're not sure are sustainable in the long run. But I mean, it's certainly in any case a dramatic difference between the Gucci we saw a few years ago. I mean, stores were chock a block with so many people that was, you know, maybe the first luxury brand in my experience where they would consistently have lines, you know, before that became quite a common occurrence after the pandemic. You would really see a lot of people lined up at a Gucci store and then, you know, that really has run out over the past few years. It stagnated during the last two or three years of Alessandro Michele's tenure there. And then as they changed CEO and designer the past year and a half, about 18 months, sales declined quite dramatically.
Sheena Butler Young
We're talking about Salvador de Sarno, the creative director that came in and was let go within two years. Correct.
Francois Henri Pinault
Sabato came about a little bit less than two years ago. He had his debut show in September 2023. And you know, that show I think really, you know, set a kind of a fresh reset for the brand. It gave a really like a youthful, stylish kind of sexy tone, had a great, some great styling signatures. There was this sense of like this mix of very sartorial details like long overcoat with more skimpy things like lingerie dress, mini shorts. There was the classics of Gucci, like a horsebit loafer, but like in a platform style. There were a lot of little twists on the heritage that felt quite fresh, but it was not, you know, like.
Sheena Butler Young
But it flopped, to quote Brian. I think it flopped.
Francois Henri Pinault
Well, I didn't, I wouldn't know it say it flopped out of the gate. You know, I think there are people that felt like there was a refreshing angle there, but it definitely did not have that sort of like dimension that was setting the fashion agenda. It had something to say about the way girls want to dress right now that felt, felt quite timely, felt fresh, but it wasn't giving people a lot to respond to. And so, you know, the create urgency about why do I have to go into the store this season, not next season? Why is it this brand that's so exciting and not another. It gave, you know, maybe a really wealthy client because prices were going up dramatically there in these collections which were. Had a higher level of construction in some ways, but also just saw the price inflate quite a bit for a variety of reasons. It was quite expensive and there was a high end client that bought into these ready to wear collections. But it was just so much more of a niche audience than who this brand used to speak to with, you know, a really strong story and much more accessible merchandising that felt also much more urgent during the Alessandro Michele era.
Brian Baskin
But then we've seen so many luxury brands make this pivot to kind of muted minimalism. I mean that's not really what Gucci's doing, but Definitely more subdued than the previous era of Gucci and a little more commercial, a little more something you'd wear every day. And that has worked at so many places. Why? Why then didn't it work here? Why didn't that more mainstream commercial approach take hold?
Francois Henri Pinault
Well, that's a subject of debate. There are some people out there who are going to say that Gucci stands for maximalism, for fashion authority, for something quite bold. Even if there was something very slick about the Tom Ford era that you could find again in this Sabato era, even if there had been some fatigue with the strain of maximalism that Alessandro Micheli was doing with so much nostalgia, so much personality, such a layered on styling. In any case, there's a common thread of doing something really quite striking and maybe quite conversational. You know, you could see a straight line in some ways at the best moments of Gucci from, you know, those like, G logo thongs on the Runway where the the letter G was holding together the thong. You could see a straight line from that personal favorite to something like a ruffled, sequined, tiered gown with kind of a babushka scarf that you would see with Alessandro Michelle. They look very different aesthetically. They speak to a different taste and desire in the market. But there is something about, you know, this brand being a bold, a place for bold fashion propositions, which also is maybe one structural reason the brand wasn't quite set up for success in this past fashion cycle, which has been all about classics and investment pieces. Gucci has those with certain bag styles, with loafers, but it's a small chunk of its business, at least as the business has existed in its previous incarnations. Previously they had the classics and then this big component of fashion on top of that. You know, it's hard to manage that and not have some big ups and downs.
Brian Baskin
When did you first have an inkling that maybe this whole change of direction wasn't working? I mean, for me, BoF's office in New York is right around the corner from that big Gucci store in Soho that opened a great fanfare in 2018. And it used to be quite crowded. You know, you always saw people in there. And I just do like a weekly spot check every time I'm headed to the office. And the last year or two, it was kind of a ghost town. Like, I remember walking by yesterday, you know, just thinking about recording this podcast and literally not a soul in that enormous space.
Francois Henri Pinault
Yeah, I mean, I don't think it was immediately obvious that it wouldn't work. There wasn't like a super enthusiastic response from fashion insiders because it was not, you know, they were not the most forward looking Runway shows, they were not the most transgressive. But, you know, that doesn't mean that something's not going to work. The Virginie VR era at Chanel was commercially extremely potent. The way she retailered a lot of Chanel's offer in a way that made it relevant for a lot more young people. You see girls wearing Chanel ready to wear that you wouldn't have seen a few years wearing it, even if a lot of fashion people never really got on board with what she was doing there. And, you know, the same was true for years with Maria Grazia Chiuri. A lot of people took a long time to come around with what she was doing at Dior. So I wouldn't say it was immediately obvious that it was not going to work. I think it was obvious from the beginning that it was going to be a very big challenge. Sabato joined while the former CEO Marco Bizzari was still in place. And then Mr. Bizarre left just before the debut show, like three weeks before. So there was a lot of turnover, you know, then they sent the managing director of Kering, Jean Francois Palouse, who was kind of like, you know, seen as a real financial whiz who had helped him manage the building of Kering's portfolio over a long time, but had never really had a hands on branding and fashion role managing the brand in the day to day before. They sent him as a CEO of Gucci for about a year before finding someone else. So there's been just a lot of turnover, a lot of turmoil and all of that is quite hard to create any kind of financial turnaround. Also in the wake of such a booming success as they had during the Alessandro Michele era, which was compelling from a fashion standpoint, it was commercially very successful, but it was also critiqued as like very financially unsustainable. It was quite over distributed. The stores were full of people, but they were also really full of inventory. And there was a sense that if interest in this proposition ran out, what was going to happen with this brand? Because they were really kind of firing on all cylinders from the outlets to the mainline stores, to the wholesale to the travel retail. There wasn't a lot of like what like financial analysts would call dry tinder to burn.
Brian Baskin
My favorite moment from that era was that presentation they did on expanding in the US and they said they were going to open five stores in Ohio.
Sheena Butler Young
I've heard this before and I was.
Brian Baskin
Just like, I don't care how hot this brand is, I don't know if Cleveland can support this.
Sheena Butler Young
Have we heard about what happened with those Ohio stores? Where did they land? Did they open?
Brian Baskin
I don't know if those all opened. They're definitely closing some now. Those have to be on the list, right? They're closing something like 50 stores worldwide, right?
Francois Henri Pinault
I don't remember them ever saying five stores in Ohio.
Brian Baskin
I will pull up that slide and show you later. This burned in my brain.
Francois Henri Pinault
I mean, Kering opened a lot of stores in the US over the past few years and the future of those locations is probably up in the air to some extent because even though the US Is emerging as the main bright spot for the luxury market this year, and you saw some really strong growth in the numbers at Hermes this year, those have been the most resilient for a lot of brands has been their US business. The kind of products and maybe the kind of shoppers that were being catered to at some of these new mall locations in secondary cities and third, smaller cities. Whether those are going to turn out to be a long term bet is not completely clear. I mean, wealth is extremely diffuse in the US it's much less centralized than a lot of places. Whether, you know, US is a big country and it could sustain probably more stores than it had before, but whether it needs, you know, quite as many Alexander McQueen and Balenciaga stores as were planned, or certainly Gucci stores by carrying. Yeah, I think that's not totally clear.
Sheena Butler Young
We'll be back with more of the debrief right after this.
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Sheena Butler Young
So we have this creative director seat that's open. I assume there's a lot of potential in what someone that can come in and do for the brand. Any inkling of who should take this role? Who Gucci's considering what the promise would be of a new creative director in this moment.
Francois Henri Pinault
You know, they are saying that they've built a really strong base through this period with Sabato and with their current direction that this kind of aesthetic reset and this back to basics, you know, this renewed focus on heritage and higher end products that were a little more complicated could back up the prices a bit better. You know, they're saying that this has created a base where now if someone comes in with a strong fashion vision it's going to be able to take off, you know, really quickly.
Sheena Butler Young
But do you believe that they're building a really strong base but he's out in two years?
Francois Henri Pinault
You know, I think that there's a potential that you know, with the right messaging they could build quite quickly on what they've done and not have like a long transition period. Again, that's at least the story they're telling markets is that there's not going to be a long transition that they're going to be able to start bouncing back right away. And having gone down so quickly, hopefully as they annualize those declines there is going to be room to really start bouncing back. They have a lot of stores, they've worked really hard on investing and having like a more responsive supply chain so that hopefully the next designer that comes in it won't take quite so long to get good products into the store which was one issue with the rollout of kind of Sabato's collection. So who will be the right person for that role now? I think it's a two part question. It's who's the right person and what is the right thing to expect from them. Gucci is a company that was managed maybe Historically, in a really directional way, the creative director has had a lot of power, a lot of control over the image, the collections, over kind of everything they're doing in a visual, creative way to an extent that is not typical for such a large company. Where maybe you would see brands that kind of mix a more edgy fashion vision on the Runway with some other more aspects that are more commercial and they have maybe more people in the room, a multiplicity of voices, maybe Dior can seem a bit disjointed because of this sometimes because the men, the perfume, the jewelry, the women's all have different creative directors. But at the same time they're not pinning their fortunes to one person. So I think there's kind of a structural question that needs to be asked. And then in terms of the people that would be right for it, there's a few names that have come up. So Kering over the past 10 years kind of diverged in their strategy from LVMH, which had historically been really focused on attracting star designers and keeping them and finding really working with these A list talents that had a big name recognition. And that's still the case at a lot of their brands. With people like Pharrell and Nico at Kenzo, kind of like, who's the biggest name we can get to? This brand is often the way they're going to work. Kering was more about, you know, finding these young talents that were hidden behind the scenes in the studios of various brands and could maybe like would know the archive really well and have a strong vision to propose about the brand and elevating them. So that's been the strategy I think this time to reassure the market and to stabilize what they're doing at Gucci. They're probably looking quite seriously at investing and bringing on a very A list talent that people already know about. Those could be people like Eddie Slimane who left Celine some months ago. And you know, he has a rocky relationship with Kering because they had a pretty messy split when he left St. Laurent. And they had a couple years that they spent in court trying to figure out some things about the royalties, the intellectual property he had left behind there, and about his non compete, which Kering tried to release him from. But he wanted to focus on his photography practice for a few years and he took them to town to really pay up quite a lot of money so that he could have a few years out of the fashion game.
Sheena Butler Young
I love that that's the one time the non compete worked in favor of the employee and the talent and not the actual company. At least that's what he was trying to get it to do.
Francois Henri Pinault
Certainly it's rare. Yeah. He said that it was not unilaterally revocable, that they couldn't just get out of that. But you know, they had a pretty messy split. But, you know, there's a lot of money at stake for both parties if he were to come on for this job. I think it's a real possibility that they've certainly explored. There's also been reports that Mario Grazia Chiuri is leaving Dior. This is something that industry sources have been saying for months is more or less decided. And whether or not she'll go on to another job within lvmh, which is something that the group reportedly wanted, or whether she'll leave for a competitor is also not clear. There's also maybe some oddballs out there. I mean, John Galliano has left Margiela. I do not think that he is a serious contender for this job because I don't think that's something he wants to do. But you know, that's the kind of, the kind of a list talent that is really like floating around out there because there's been a lot of movement.
Sheena Butler Young
You know, it's interesting. Gucci is bringing in the lion shares of revenue for caring, but it's not the only brand. There are some other brands in the stable, some performing better than others. Does Gucci's performance compare with like a Saint Laurent or Balenciaga or Bottega Veneta in this Anna's Herbalis of a year?
Francois Henri Pinault
Gucci is definitely where the bulk of the declines are focused. The others are down. But maybe down may be more in line with the rest of the luxury sector. And the way a lot of fashion brands are struggling right now. In this past quarter, we saw the segment that contains Balenciaga and McQueen declining by like 4%, which is a little bit more than LVMH, but not that much. Certainly far less than the previous quarter. And the same goes for Saint Laurent. I think it was a single digit decline this past quarter, whereas it had been down double digits a lot of the year. Those brands grew really fast over the past few years, notably in the wake of the pandemic. So I think that there's been a bit of a course correction for them. Seems less worrying to a lot of people because not only are they less important as profit centers for the group, they are coming down after flying really high without having had already like several years of stagnation, which was the case of Gucci, you know, which kind of really was flat for several years before Alessandra McKelly left.
Brian Baskin
But isn't that the whole problem with caring? And the whole point of having a conglomerate is that if one brand is down, some other brand's going to be up and they don't seem to have that. There's no diversification here. It's a bunch of on trend brands that all head in the same direction. They were all up a couple years ago, now they're all down. They all seem to be going through designer transitions at the same time. What's the plan here? I guess maybe is the question.
Francois Henri Pinault
Well, I mean, that could be true to an extent. That is worrying that they're not having like some major bright spots. They have one in the form of Bottega Veneta, which has had a really strong performance this year.
Brian Baskin
And just lost its creative director.
Francois Henri Pinault
And just lost its creative director. They do kind of have some challenges at every turn and they're aware of that. I mean, it's not a great mood over there. They've been preemptively, you know, kind of making some pretty big disposals in terms of like they spun out some really valuable real estate in these joint ventures with a new investor.
Brian Baskin
Tell us more about that. I'm not sure those, the names of those properties will. Some might, some might not mean a lot to our audience, but those are pretty. It's a pretty big deal that they sold those, right?
Francois Henri Pinault
Yeah, well, I mean, one of the recent ones was, you know, something not very strategic. It was this like a couple luxury malls in Italy. I mean, luxury outlet malls, they're trying to have less exposure to this. They're not a mall operator. So that kind of disposal maybe is the kind of, is a normal thing to do protectively if you're under some cash pressure. One of the properties, though, was the headquarters and original flagship store of the high jewelry brand Boucheron, which is like this palazzo on the Place Vendome that they just renovated, I think five years ago and did a sweeping renovation to make this beautiful store that's like the nerve center of this brand. It's so important to its history that choosing to like, you know, cash in on the fact that this building is worth a lot of money. Money. It's a bit worrying that they feel the need, you know, to get that treasury right now. Mr. Pinot commented on this that, you know, saying like it was a very normal thing to do that, like that was an investment that they are not a real estate company. That it was an investment, that it matured. But I think most people would say, you know, this is like, you could make some disposals at a good price now before people might think you're like under duress to do it and you wouldn't be getting a very good deal if, like, things do get worse. So it's maybe a bit protective. It's interesting also they're making these real estate sales at the same time that they're maintaining their dividend. And, you know, I talked to some people. Why would they be doing this, selling something as important as the Boucheron store, but then still paying out a dividend? But they have quite a bit of like rotating debt as well that they're trying to refinance. The terms at which you borrow are going to be based off in on the valuation of your company. You could lose a lot of institutional investors, you could lose, lose the value of your shares, you know, even more than they've dropped over the past couple years if they were to start touching the dividend. So I think that's why they're maintaining that and then going on this other course in terms of disposals. But some people said they're selling the family silver, which it kind of does feel like when you sell the. The plus one dome store from Boucheron makes you worry a little bit about, you know, it says, I think that's maybe the most worrying move they've made in terms of where this could actually head for this company and all the people that work there.
Brian Baskin
Why don't we end on a positive note though? I mean, does have plenty going for it. They're still one of the biggest luxury conglomerates. Gucci's still one of the, I mean, even was looking it up just now, you know, their sales last year, as far much as they fell, still 7.7 billion euros. There's only a handful of brands, probably can count them on two hands that are at that level in that market that there's plenty of room for a comeback here, right?
Francois Henri Pinault
Absolutely. And I think that's important to underscore. I mean, it can seem like people are beating up on Kering just because they, you know, it seemed like we're beating up on Kering because they've just had a few quarters where they've had a lot of different problems at the same time. Maybe starting around when there was this crisis at Balenciaga a few years ago. And it's just, you know, there's kind of been always something lately. But this is a company that owns some really strong brands. I mean, Saint Laurent is a brand that's like extremely stable, extremely appealing to a lot of people. People understand how this stands for French style and Parisian style in this really clear way. They understand that Balenciaga stands for like, you know, a forward looking, architectural kind of shocking fashion authority in a really clear way. And then Gucci really can stand for a lot of things. I think that's where they got a bit confused. It's the biggest Italian luxury brand and maybe they started to think that it was more of a heritage house than it should be. So I think the rebound and the real potential for the rebound there is if they can get the right person in place to tell a very convincing fashion story, it can go very high, very fast. Again, they have a lot of real estate, they have a lot of stores in great locations and they have a whole supply chain behind them that's really like rooting for their comeback because it's the biggest client for so many suppliers in the Italian fashion system. I think it's a group that's made some really smart decisions in the way they empowered creative directors to make really strong fashion driven repositioning. That got really good results for a while. Now I think they have to start looking at things in some different ways. This is the luxury group that isn't known for its long term planning or it being able to stick with long term plans as well. But they'll take some bigger risks and sometimes those lead to having to really reposition. At one point they said that they should really diversify away from luxury and be a sportswear company as well. It's not like they were completely ignorant to what they were doing when they were opening so many stores for Gucci and when they were pushing so hard on the outlets and the wholesale and the entire of pushing on every cylinder. They wanted to catch up with LVMH and Louis Vuitton very quickly because they felt like it was primordial for them to have a bigger market share, to be a serious player in this fast growing market that they needed to to make up for lost time. They had had a previous era where Gucci was quite stagnant under its previous designer before Alessandro Michele Frida, who also is very respected in a lot of circles, also did a lot to stabilize the brand. She has a story that's a bit like Sabato's in a lot of ways, except that she ended up staying quite a long time. And so once it really was bouncing back, they pushed very hard. They had big ambitions at that point. They were exploring whether or not they would be able to take over Richemont and be the owners of, you know, this Swiss group that owns Cartier. And then they would really be diversified. As Brian says, they would not have all their eggs in one basket the same way. And so, you know, they pushed quite hard and then, you know, when that didn't pan out and things landed, you know, not as softly as they were hoping. It's been complicated for them ever since. But I think there's a huge potential for this group.
Sheena Butler Young
There's a huge potential for this group. I think that ends us on a positive note. Robert, thank you so much for joining us today.
Francois Henri Pinault
Thank you guys for having me. It's been a lot of fun.
Sheena Butler Young
Please be sure to check out Robert's article can Carrying Bunks Back from its annus horribilis@businessoffashion.com this& other stories are available to BOF Professional subscribers only and you can find the links in the episode notes. You've been listening to the debrief produced by Olivia Davies, mixed and mastered by Eric Brea. I'm Sheena Butler Young. We'll be back next next week with a new episode. Thanks so much for joining us and be sure to follow us wherever you get your podcasts.
Robert Williams
This is a message from sponsor Intuit TurboTax Taxes was getting frustrated by your forms. Now Taxes is uploading your forms with a Snap and a TurboTax expert will do your taxes for you. One who's backed by the latest tech which cross checks millions of data points for absolute accuracy. All of which makes it easy for you to get the most money back guaranteed. Get an Expert now on TurboTax.com only available with TurboTax Live full service. See guarantee details at TurboTax.com guarantees.
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Francois Henri Pinault
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Release Date: February 18, 2025
Host: Brian Baskin
Senior Correspondent: Sheena Butler Young
Guest: Robert Williams, Luxury Editor at BoF
Featured Speaker: François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO of Kering
In the episode titled "Can Kering Fix Gucci?", Brian Baskin and Sheena Butler Young delve into the recent downturn experienced by Gucci, a flagship brand under the Kering conglomerate. Despite Kering's overall sales falling by 12% and Gucci's sales plummeting by 24% in the fourth quarter, the company's stock saw a slight rise—a reaction attributed to investors' anticipation of poor results following three consecutive quarters of double-digit declines.
Sheena Butler Young opens the discussion by highlighting the significance of Gucci within Kering's portfolio. To provide context, Robert Williams explains:
"Kering has emerged over the past 15 or so years as a really important competitor to LVMH and Richemont. [...] Gucci is still the biggest Italian luxury brand and maybe they started to think that it was more of a heritage house than it should be."
— Robert Williams [01:33]
Gucci accounts for a substantial portion of Kering's revenue and profits, making its performance critical to the conglomerate's overall health. Historically, under leaders like Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole, Gucci underwent a renaissance that significantly boosted Kering's standing in the luxury market.
François-Henri Pinault expresses optimism despite the current setbacks:
"The strategy we are implementing consistently since we became carrying a pure player in luxury is unchanged. We have demonstrated in the past that we know how to grow brands and... Gucci will come back. I have absolutely no doubts about this."
— François-Henri Pinault [00:56]
However, Sheena Butler Young questions the severity of Gucci's downturn:
"Is this a really detrimental one or is this just a run of the mill downturn moment for Gucci?"
— Sheena Butler Young [05:16]
Pinault acknowledges the dramatic 20% sales drop over the past year and the subsequent 12% decline for Kering. He points out underlying issues such as Gucci's exposure to outlet resellers and less controlled distribution channels, which may have contributed to the current slump.
A significant factor in Gucci's recent performance is the turnover in its creative leadership. Sabato De Sarno, Gucci's creative director, was let go after less than two years. Pinault reflects on Sabato's tenure:
"Sabato came about a little bit less than two years ago... his collection had a really youthful, stylish, sexy tone... but it was not giving people a lot to respond to."
— François-Henri Pinault [07:57]
The initial fresh direction under Sabato did not resonate strongly enough with the market, leading to diminished foot traffic in stores and a lack of urgency among consumers to engage with the brand.
Despite many luxury brands shifting towards muted minimalism with success, Gucci's attempt to adopt a more commercial approach under Sabato did not yield the expected results. Pinault discusses how Gucci's bold and maximalist heritage may have clashed with the current market's preference for classics and investment pieces:
"Gucci is definitely where the bulk of the declines are focused... it's hard to manage that and not have some big ups and downs."
— François-Henri Pinault [10:11]
The brand's difficulty in balancing its rich, maximalist identity with a more subdued commercial strategy may have contributed to the recent downturn.
While Gucci faces significant challenges, other brands within Kering's portfolio have shown mixed performances:
Despite these variations, the lack of diversification within Kering's brand portfolio—a concentration of on-trend brands all undergoing similar directional shifts—exacerbates the impact of Gucci's decline on the conglomerate's overall performance.
In response to the financial pressures, Kering has undertaken several strategic disposals:
Pinault justifies these sales as necessary steps to protect the company's financial health:
"They have quite a bit of like rotating debt as well that they're trying to refinance. [...] It's maybe a bit protective."
— François-Henri Pinault [25:58]
Despite these disposals, Kering has maintained its dividend payments, which analysts find puzzling given the ongoing financial strains.
The discussion shifts towards future prospects and potential strategies to revive Gucci:
"The rebound and the real potential for the rebound there is if they can get the right person in place to tell a very convincing fashion story, it can go very high, very fast."
— François-Henri Pinault [28:38]
Robert Williams adds that with the right creative vision and structural adjustments, Gucci has the potential to quickly regain its stature within the luxury market.
Sheena Butler Young concludes on an optimistic note, acknowledging Kering's robust brand portfolio and the latent potential within Gucci. Despite the current challenges, the strategic decisions and the foundation built by Kering's leadership could pave the way for Gucci's resurgence.
"I think there's a huge potential for this group."
— Sheena Butler Young [32:07]
François-Henri Pinault reinforces this sentiment, highlighting the group's resilience and capacity for strategic risk-taking that could lead to significant repositioning and growth.
François-Henri Pinault [00:56]:
"The strategy we are implementing consistently since we became carrying a pure player in luxury is unchanged. We have demonstrated in the past that we know how to grow brands and... Gucci will come back. I have absolutely no doubts about this."
Sheena Butler Young [05:16]:
"Is this a really detrimental one or is this just a run of the mill downturn moment for Gucci?"
François-Henri Pinault [07:57]:
"Sabato came about a little bit less than two years ago... his collection had a really youthful, stylish, sexy tone... but it was not giving people a lot to respond to."
François-Henri Pinault [10:11]:
"Gucci is definitely where the bulk of the declines are focused... it's hard to manage that and not have some big ups and downs."
Sheena Butler Young [32:07]:
"There's a huge potential for this group."
Gucci's Critical Role: As the cornerstone of Kering's portfolio, Gucci's performance directly impacts the conglomerate's financial health.
Leadership Turmoil: Frequent changes in creative direction and leadership have destabilized Gucci, contributing to its sales decline.
Strategic Disposals: Kering's sale of non-core assets reflects financial pressures but raises concerns about long-term brand heritage preservation.
Potential for Recovery: With substantial revenue, valuable assets, and strategic planning, Gucci and Kering possess the tools necessary for a potential turnaround.
Need for Visionary Leadership: The appointment of a new, influential creative director is pivotal for reinvigorating Gucci's brand identity and market presence.
This episode provides a comprehensive analysis of Kering's current struggles with Gucci, examining the interplay of leadership changes, strategic decisions, and market dynamics. It underscores the delicate balance required to manage a flagship luxury brand within a conglomerate and highlights the potential pathways for recovery and growth.