Alessandro Michele - Designer, Creative Director of Valentino

[dodencebt]

While the lower sales are mainly in the US, we all expected Gucci to start selling less eventually. Any aesthetic would normally get boring when you don't know when to stop.

 

[happycanadian]

I mean ... it's 20% growth over the previous quarter. This, for a multi-billion dollar company, is still incredibly impressive.

I think they could really expand their home design market, though. Alessandro's style and vision really lends itself to beautiful ceramics and textiles that look stylish in the home. It could be an opportunity for growth.

Also, I feel like the Gucci fragrances have lacked in presence recently. Yes, they released "Bloom" in 2017, but there's soooo much more opportunity here.

 

[dsamg]

As Gucci Tripped on Social Media, Sales Fell
Criticism of a controversial sweater hurt the fashion brand’s influencer connections and online buzz; a drop in quarterly North American sales followed

By Eric Sylvers and
Suzanne Kapner
Updated Sept. 15, 2019 5:57 pm ET

MILAN—Gucci boosted its brand and sales by using social media to flaunt its connections with hip-hop artists and promote its theatrical fashion shows, but that momentum reversed in February, after the release of a sweater that critics likened to blackface.

The result: Gucci lost the top spot among luxury companies for social-media engagement in March, according to Tribe Dynamics, and in July it reported its first quarterly drop in North American sales since early 2016.

The retreat shows how luxury companies that thrive on Instagram and other social-media outlets can just as quickly stumble because of them. Such platforms have become the lifeblood of the attention-seeking fashion business, a marketing strategy that Gucci built around its star designer Alessandro Michele.

Mr. Michele’s flashy designs grabbed the attention of social-media influencers and hip-hop artists who set the streetwear trends that dominate the fashion industry. His fashion shows—including one last year in Milan where models strutted down the runway holding realistic replicas of their own heads—went viral. Mr. Michele’s next show is set for Sept. 22 during Milan fashion week.

The tide of social-media praise turned against Gucci after the $890 sweater. Gucci pulled the sweater, apologized and hired a chief diversity officer, but the brand took a beating on social media. Celebrities posted videos of themselves burning Gucci products and called for boycotts, including rapper T.I., who on Instagram declared himself “a 7 figure/yr customer & long time supporter” of Gucci.

Now, some in the fashion industry are questioning whether Gucci and its designer have peaked.

“As innovative as Alessandro is, his style is becoming a little bit stagnant,” said Nicole Fischelis, who held positions as fashion director and creative director at Saks Fifth Avenue and Macy’s before starting her own consulting firm.

Gucci declined to comment and didn’t make Mr. Michele available. Its parent company, Kering SA, said that Gucci was the hottest fashion brand in the Lyst Index’s most recent quarterly ranking and is the most searched brand on The RealReal , a luxury resale site.

Gucci, which sells products such as $300 wallets, $1,590 sneakers and $5,000 dresses, is particularly susceptible to social-media highs and lows because of its large base of younger customers. Morgan Stanley estimates that more than two-thirds of Gucci sales comes from millennials.

Gucci dialed back U.S. marketing last quarter rather than draw more attention to itself in the middle of the blackface maelstrom, Jean-Marc Duplaix, chief financial officer at Kering, said in July. Gucci contributes about 60% of Kering’s revenue and 80% of profit.

“We wanted to assess the evolution of the U.S. market, the reaction of the consumers after the issue we had in the U.S.,” Mr. Duplaix said, adding that Gucci is readying a marketing push in the U.S. later this year. Kering’s shares are down about 10% since reporting the 2% decline in North American sales in late July.

The company also has said shifts in tourism flows—more Americans traveling and shopping abroad and fewer Europeans and Asians visiting the U.S.—contributed to the drop in North American sales. The region accounts for 20% of Gucci’s sales.

wsjThe Gucci brand is closely associated with American hip-hop culture, which sets the streetwear trends. “Gucci Gang,” a single by teenage rapper Lil Pump, who repeats the brand name dozens of times during the song, has almost a billion views on YouTube and hit No. 3 on U.S. charts when released in 2017.

Gucci was overtaken in March by Chanel in the Tribe Dynamics ranking, which uses a proprietary metric, known as earned media value, to quantify the influencer content and consumer engagement a brand gets on social media. Chanel benefited from the social-media buzz surrounding the death in February of its longtime designer, Karl Lagerfeld.

Gucci’s earned media value fell by one-third in March from the previous month to $30.7 million. Chanel, which had an earned media value of $33.8 million in March, held the top spot again in April, lost it in May to Gucci and then won it back again in June with the two companies almost tied.

The drop in Gucci’s North American sales comes on the heels of four quarters of declining growth and tracks the brand’s waning social-media strength. Gucci in September 2017 hit an earned media value of $82.5 million, triple the $27 million it reached in July of this year, according to Tribe Dynamics. In the September 2017 quarter, Gucci sales rose 49% in North America.

Gucci is far from the only brand to stumble on social media, especially when it comes to race and other hot-button issues. Prada pulled from shelves a monkey keychain that was called out as racially insensitive, saying, “The resemblance of the products to blackface was by no means intentional, but we recognize that this does not excuse the damage they have caused.” Versace, meanwhile, has apologized for releasing a T-shirt that identified Hong Kong and Macau as separate from China.

Source: WSJ

 

[Lola701]

Alessandro hasn’t renew his contract yet and there’s already trouble in paradise. I hope he will turn the whole direction and surprise everybody because...It doesn’t smell good.
Bernard Arnault is smiling somewhere...

 

[puresoul]

With Jared Leto in Rome 3/23/21​

dailymail.co.uk​

 

[TianCouture]

my gosh no. they look so silly

 

[fakeawake]

20% is not impressive considering most of Gucci's line up is high markup 'merch'. They are making so much on those cotton sweat pants, I suspect they are struggling because they should be up 50-70% if the sales stayed the same. Remember Gucci has loans that need to be paid. They can't have a pair of $7000 Python pants sitting around, that is money they are paying on interest, rent on the store, pay on the employees. They need those pants out the door as soon as they arrive. Yes they could be making good money on the Python. Gucci would rather sell 10 pairs of $700 sweatpants that they know won't sit around gathering dust. The sweatpants cost very little to source and manufacture so they could end up with he same earning as the single pair of python pants but spend less money outright.

$1500 Python pants sold for $7000 or 200$ in sweatpant materials sold for $7000. Clearly Gucci is going with the latter.

Gucci has no excuse for such low numbers considering they have such high margin pieces. They have totally stripped their whole line and are focusing entirely on high margin pieces, there is no room to 'strip' further. Gucci doesn't even sell fur anymore in order to reduce costs and keep prices high. I think they just reintroduced their nylon line which was discontinued years ago bc it looked so cheap, I dont know exactly I dont shop at gucci whatsoever. So yes, Gucci is in trouble like they never have been before. Frida Gianini and Faschinetti should have gotten a duo lifetime contract.

 

[fakeawake]

Gucci needs to reverse course at this point. Close stores and make everything mega-precious. Dolce and Gabbana is a brand to note because they have just been raising their prices. Logo wear is now hard to get from Dolce when it used to be their backbone. Dolce sits around thinking of how they can get finer more artisanal pieces into peoples hands while Gucci sits around thinking how they can get more money from their customers. Of course Gucci has bills to pay so they can't just close stores because the debts incurred won't be closed. Gucci is gonna keep stripping out to pay bills eventually they will have a diffusion line called "G Phat" in your local mall. With bobbie english in the ad campaign We know Gucci has higher debts because they recently redid many stores and acquired new locations in places like Soho NY, they're not paying for those repairs and renovations in cash, that lease is a multi-year debt that the are beholden to.

As my comment above says, they shouldve made Frida and Alexandra a permanent duo because they were the only designers who gave Gucci a 'look' and knew enough about tailoring to make precious clothing. I still regret not buying a pair of python mens pants from them (see above), and Ive never seen Gucci make another pair of perfect black python pants. Nobody else has, actually. That's Gucci's market though, where to go to get a real python shirt, a real python pair of pants. Authentic alligator trench coats. Frida and Alexandra understood this.

 

[susseinmcswanny]

I cannot agree with you more ^^^ Seriously idg why people hate on Frida so much bc she produced solid authentic sexy desirable luxury. A Gucci store in the late 2000's was a candy shop with all the special well made clothes and accessories, ex. fakeawake's python pants. I used to just gaze in awe at their crocodile and python garments. The reason you would go to Gucci would be for these types of clothes that inspired a sexy luxurious lifestyle. The shock value crap Alessandro makes will never compare. It almost frightens me like we are in some sort of black mirror episode the way they are so hyper focused on making money hand over fist, putting on these ridiculous, ugly, faux intellectual presentations to entice people to join this "cult" so they can buy t-shirts, sweatpants, and flip-flops. None of the Gucci fans today have a brain cell left to make their own decision on what they like or not. You could present them a shirt that says "im a f*cking idiot" and they would eat it up. Like did yall see harry styles in that suit with the purple faux fur boa?? what the f u c is going on

 

[helmutnotdead]

For all the people who asked me: “why you don’t want to be fashion designer anymore?!”... Well, they should really take a look at this thread and “Prada: what went wrong?”.
Damn, fashion industry these days is f*cking depressing.

 

[thekijken]

For all the people who asked me: “why you don’t want to be fashion designer anymore?!”... Well, they should really take a look at this thread and “Prada: what went wrong?”.
Damn, fashion industry these days is f*cking depressing.

...... Mr Helmut Lang ? is that you ?

 

[fakeawake]

For all the people who asked me: “why you don’t want to be fashion designer anymore?!”... Well, they should really take a look at this thread and “Prada: what went wrong?”.
Damn, fashion industry these days is f*cking depressing.

Hold up.

...... Mr Helmut Lang ? is that you ?

 

[GIVENCHYlover]

Gucci Teaming up with Balenciaga for Next Collection: Market Reports

According to Italian market reports, creative director Alessandro Michele collaborated with Balenciaga (which is also owned by Kering) and its creative director, Demna Gvasalia on Gucci’s newest collection. The Kering-owned Italian luxury brand is set to reveal the collection, called Aria, through a series of short films on Thursday, April 15. The collection will be Gucci’s first in 2021, its centennial year.
Neither brand has commented on the report.

businessoffashion.com​

 

[aracic]

Gucci Teaming up with Balenciaga for Next Collection: Market Reports

The hypebeasts are creaming their pants as we speak.

 

[dontbeadrag]

Next time: Gucci x Balenciaga x Bottega Veneta collaboration, the holy Kering trifecta.

 

[perhydrol]

A crossover no one asked for.

 

[Olaffo]

lord have mercy, is the pandemic not enough? have we offended you so much MCG is not sufficient punishment?

 

[YohjiAddict]

Hadn't they released a joint Gucci x Balenciaga aberration before? Both are the epitome of boredom, just that one is more representative of nouveau riche look-at-me vulgarity than the other. At least we'll have a fun thread!

Cristóbal Balenciaga can't haunt them fast enough...

 

[FiveEasyPieces]

Is it not quite bizarre for two competing fashion labels of their stature to release a collection together? I’m not very knowledgable in this area, but to me it seems akin to Pepsi announcing that they were going to collaborate with Coca Cola.

 

[YohjiAddict]

^They are not competing brands since they both belong to the same conglomerate, Kering. It is bizarre in that they both seem to embody very different ethos and aesthetics, so for me it reads as a very opportunistic/inauthentic gesture.