Gucci's CEO is Stepping Down as its French Parent Shakes up Leadership

FILE - Gucci President Marco Bizzarri, gestures as he attends a conference titled 'The Innovation Summit', in Milan, Italy, on July 3, 2017. Bizzarri is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to the French conglomerate Kering that owns it. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE - Gucci President Marco Bizzarri, gestures as he attends a conference titled 'The Innovation Summit', in Milan, Italy, on July 3, 2017. Bizzarri is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to the French conglomerate Kering that owns it. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
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Gucci's CEO is Stepping Down as its French Parent Shakes up Leadership

FILE - Gucci President Marco Bizzarri, gestures as he attends a conference titled 'The Innovation Summit', in Milan, Italy, on July 3, 2017. Bizzarri is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to the French conglomerate Kering that owns it. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
FILE - Gucci President Marco Bizzarri, gestures as he attends a conference titled 'The Innovation Summit', in Milan, Italy, on July 3, 2017. Bizzarri is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to the French conglomerate Kering that owns it. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

The president and CEO of Gucci is stepping down later this year, the latest shakeup to the luxury fashion brand and coming as part of a series of changes to its parent company, the French conglomerate Kering.

Marco Bizzarri will depart the Italian design house in September after eight years at the helm, with Kering saying Tuesday that he "masterminded the execution of Gucci’s outstanding growth strategy since 2015." He was part of Kering's leadership for 18 years, The Associated Press reported.

Bizzarri will be replaced by Jean-François Palus, who is now Kering's managing director. Palus will be “tasked with strengthening Gucci’s teams and operations” as the brand “rebuilds influence and momentum,” according to the company's statement.

Historically, Gucci accounted for most of Kering’s profits, but it has been under some scrutiny after underperforming rivals.

Kering also said it was promoting Yves Saint Laurent President and CEO Francesca Bellettini as deputy CEO for brand development, managing all of its fashion houses, which also include Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen and Bottega Veneta.

Kering Chief Financial Officer Jean-Marc Duplaix will be another deputy CEO, handling operations and finance.

“We are building a more robust organization to fully capture the growth of the global luxury market," billionaire Kering Chairman and CEO François-Henri Pinault said in a statement.

He said Bellettini drove revenue at Saint Laurent six times higher, while Palus, who's taking over at Gucci, “will now focus his energy on getting our largest asset in top shape.”

Pinault thanked the departing Bizzarri “for his spectacular contribution to the success of Gucci and of Kering.”

The changes open questions about the future of the larger fashion conglomerate and especially of Gucci, whose creative director of eight years, Alessandro Michele, left the brand last November, citing “different perspectives." He redefined Gucci’s codes with romanticism and gender-fluidity.

It marks a clean start at Gucci: Bizzarri arrived when Michele was promoted in 2015 in a complete revamp of the fashion house and now is leaving eight months after the creative director.

Recent Gucci collections have been designed by an in-house team, but the fashion world is awaiting the brand’s first collection by new creative director Sabato De Sarno, formerly part of the team at Valentino, to be unveiled in September.

 

 

 

 

 



Italy’s Fashion Brands Sign Accord to Fight Worker Exploitation

General view of Milan Court of Justice in Milan, Italy, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
General view of Milan Court of Justice in Milan, Italy, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
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Italy’s Fashion Brands Sign Accord to Fight Worker Exploitation

General view of Milan Court of Justice in Milan, Italy, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)
General view of Milan Court of Justice in Milan, Italy, April 26, 2024. (Reuters)

Italian legal and political authorities, fashion industry bodies and trade unions signed an action plan on Monday to fight worker exploitation in the apparel and accessories supply chain, after prosecutors uncovered widespread abuse.

Italy accounts for half the world's production in the luxury fashion industry.

The plan, which is not legally binding, is an attempt to tackle what Milan prosecutors have described in documents seen by Reuters as "a generalized manufacturing method" that puts lives at risk to boost profits.

A first draft of the scheme was proposed by a Milan court in June last year, after prosecutors uncovered workshops where underpaid workers, often irregular immigrants, produced leather bags sold to Dior and Armani for a tiny fraction of their retail price.

This month an Italian court placed a unit of Valentino under judicial administration for a year, after uncovering worker abuse in its supply chain.

"The goal is that the court will no longer have to intervene," Fabio Roia, the president of Milan's court system, told journalists on the sidelines of the memorandum signing.

The memorandum of understanding - reviewed by Reuters - focuses on the creation of a database of brands' suppliers and their workforces.

Supply chain firms will voluntarily enter their data on the platform, including information on tax compliance, social security contributions and labor law compliance, with updates at least every six months.

According to Monday's agreement, fashion brands must commit to raising awareness of the new platform among their suppliers and urge them to enter their data. However, they may still use suppliers and subcontractors that fail to do so.

The regional government of Lombardy, around Milan, will issue firms that sign up to the scheme with a six-month renewable certificate of transparency.