I think the case is not as clear-cut as it appears, especially when we look at the aspect of time spent so far to establish this dormant brand - There is certainly more pressure with Sabato de Sarno at Gucci given that the mission was a complete overhaul of the brand as well as to meet with extremely high revenue targets - For a designer then not to deliver a lacklustre performance sets a significantly more alarming message than for Guillaume Henry, whose first batch of products were released during Covid.
The way I see it, with Patou, LVMH is testing out a different brand building strategy - Less on the high investment scale and with the idea that it's not supposed to compete with their existing top-tier luxury maisons. Unlike Kenzo which enjoyed great success under Humberto Leon and Carol Lim, Guillaume Henry's performance has no predecessor to compare with. The fact that Kenzo has yet to generate traction under Nigo takes a little bit of pressure off from Patou's performance.
