Prior to the pandemic I had this impression that Kering was the more design-led group. You had AM, Demna and Daniel Lee. All those appointments, starting with Slimane at YSL shot Kering up. I guess it was too pop. It’s not as if the runway spectacles are what sells most. Not to mention on a product level their bags were subpar sans Bottega, and that was riding on Daniel Lee. It’s only in the last few years of Demna (although too late) that there’s something interesting in their bag department.
LVMH meanwhile took the time to institutionalize their brands, like Dior and Celine while still maintaining cultural relevancy with Loewe. These 3 brands along with Vuitton and later Loro Piana appeared better values than their disposable Kering counterparts. For all the buzzy moments for Kering brands, their brand equities never really took off sans Bottega. Gucci is overexposed, Balenciaga is tired, Saint Laurent outside the shows doesn’t make sense and still not at the place it should be.
true that Kering was the more design-led group, but their big mistake was to not build core continutive lines based of archive items instead each designer kind of completely rehauled the brand and focused on novelty that dont hold up with resale value unless it was trendy.
when the shift post pandemic went to owning investments leather goods all their brands had no real investment value post leather goods as it was based on contaszant novelties.
look at all brands that still do well its because resell value of their product is high or like hermes case higher than store price its very much a concept from hard luxury , watches , cars , or property it should gain value with time not loose..
they bet again on a short term hype designer like demna to rehaul gucci ....so far he is struggling to have a true vision that can impact the business bottom line.
time will tell but often disasters repeats till we learn to do better choices
bottega escaped most of the issues but remember it got to 1 billion with thomas already in and then hype came to the brand with lee and blazy made a mix of craft and hype fashion while the products them self hold most value with out having a logo so that saves it now and they manage to keep so idea in people minds of quality
From 2001 kering bought BV to 2010, Bottega Veneta's sales grew 15-fold and reached the
1 billion mark in 2012. because Tomas Maier creative director for 17 years
Bottega Veneta revenue was bit down round
1.1 billion in 2018 when Tomas Maier left
Bottega Veneta revenue exceeded
€1.5 billion in 2021 when Daniel Lee left
Bottega Veneta's revenue amounted to
€1.7 billion,in 2024 when Matthieu Blazy left
We see how post tomas the business did not grow that much, if you compare it with:
Hermes € 5,9 billion in 2018 to €15.2 billion in 2024
Chanel $11.12 billion in 2018 to $18.7 billion in 2024
Louis Vuitton comfortably exceeded €10 billion in 2018 to Louis Vuitton surpassed €20 billion in revenue for the first time in 2022.
this shows that noise is great at kering when things are good but sales growth is slower than with brands that have a bigger classic lines or post sales value retention either or both.
