Kering Appoints de Sarno as Gucci Creative Director

A Gucci sign is seen outside a shop in Paris, France, December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
A Gucci sign is seen outside a shop in Paris, France, December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
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Kering Appoints de Sarno as Gucci Creative Director

A Gucci sign is seen outside a shop in Paris, France, December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau
A Gucci sign is seen outside a shop in Paris, France, December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Charles Platiau

French luxury giant Kering appointed Sabato de Sarno as creative director of its star brand Gucci, it said on Saturday.

De Sarno began his career at Prada in 2005, moving to Dolce & Gabbana, before joining Valentino in 2009, where he held several positions before being appointed fashion director overseeing both men's and women's collections.

At Gucci, he will be tasked with reviving the fortunes of a brand that, after stellar growth between 2015 and 2019, has been losing momentum in recent years.

Creative director Alessandro Michele left abruptly in November after seven years in the job, following tensions with Kering's top management, sources told Reuters.



Kering Appoints Demna as Artistic Director of Gucci

A Gucci shop is seen at the Jiangbei international airport in southwestern China's Chongqing on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
A Gucci shop is seen at the Jiangbei international airport in southwestern China's Chongqing on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
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Kering Appoints Demna as Artistic Director of Gucci

A Gucci shop is seen at the Jiangbei international airport in southwestern China's Chongqing on March 6, 2025. (AFP)
A Gucci shop is seen at the Jiangbei international airport in southwestern China's Chongqing on March 6, 2025. (AFP)

Italian luxury brand Gucci has appointed Demna as its artistic director, owner Kering said on Thursday, in a much-awaited move to revitalize the struggling label.

The appointment comes after Gucci - once one of the industry's biggest success stories - has suffered a prolonged sales decline, with revenues down 24% in the fourth quarter of 2024. The label's former design chief Sabato De Sarno left in February.

Georgian fashion designer Demna has been the artistic director of Kering's Balenciaga since 2015, and will take up his new role in July, Kering said.

The designer faced criticism in 2022 over a controversial Balenciaga ad campaign with images involving children, which he later said was the "wrong artistic choice".

In a statement, François-Henri Pinault, Kering CEO and chairman, said: "His creative power is exactly what Gucci needs."

Analysts have been impatient for the company to fill the role, with Luca Solca of Bernstein saying that Gucci, which generates nearly half of group sales and two-thirds of operating profit, needed a "heavyweight" chief designer to regain much-needed momentum.