Sabato De Sarno - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

Why are you assuming he's staying after they announced a new show...Virginie is out from CHANEL and they are showing PreFall in China in 1 month and Cruise in Italy in 6 months...of course the fashion wheel gonna keep run.
For a brand like Gucci it is vital to keep holding these shows for two main reasons: firstly for ego and to maintain a leader position in the market, secondly to generate buzz with celebs and attendees...you know, maybe some dumb asian fan with rich parents will start browsing the website after seeing its idol k-pop / k-drama sitting front row at the show...and it will buy some cheap *** sneakers or perfume...better than nothing I guess
 
Can you guys imagine the way the Sabato interviews with Bellettini and Pinault went?
Pinault: "Sabato please show us your vision, what does Gucci mean to you?"
Sabato: "Elevated Zara with hefty price tags and GG logo covered by pretentiousness and fake intellectualism "ANCORA" a la Raf Simons...I know bad bois buying logo sneakers and hookers buying GG marmont are huge Lucio Fontana fans"
Bellettini: "Uhm...yeah...anything else?"
Sabato: "Yeah, I picture women wearing unwalkable platform loafers, 3k sweaters with GUCCI debossed logo but in ROSSO ANCORA, cause you know, I want to do like PPP Valentino and release a signature color"
Pinault: "What about image building and branding?"
Sabato: "Let's have a campaign with a superstar from the 00's Daria Werbowy, then another one with IT girl Vittoria Ceretti, then another one with a bunch of newbies, then another one with random people by the pool, then another one with Debbie Harry"
 
When things go this bad everybody leaves…
It's more about power play when you have such a big shift of teams leaving and being part of the camp that decides how things will be is a crucial factor for staying or leaving.
It's a trickle down thing in this case Bellettini lady wants to have more grip on Gucci while she cant directly steer the brand as she is group Ceo so you appoint (a minion) someone like Catino that you already know ...Catino is then loyal to you from then on whoever was placed before this feels not comfortable to await till you position or head gets chopped.... so you look for opportunities as you see the sh*t storm coming regardless of how good or incompetent you actually where to start with.
Lady Belletini placed also YSL bag guru in Gucci few months ago so yet to see this helping as well but she was proud of this move while speaking it at the last group press conference thing so you see how she is trying to replicate some ysl dust magic on to Gucci.

the last Puck podcast with Luca had a interesting take also on if Ancora guy will be replaced soon or it will be in 3 years, any ways Catino is new in this job so either he makes a new bet on someone new or he is just there to follow YSL lady instructions to keep believing in ancora guy, as they think it's the team around him that needs to be smarter in order to make ancora and the guy work out at Gucci.

It's boring to even hear the stories coming out of that brand, there are alot of young and unseasoned people there and they think they are a family (code for toxic and being taken for a ride by corporate ) is the last lol thing i heard this week.
 

LOL

Financial Times

Kering warns on profit as Gucci sales plunge

French luxury group grapples with a difficult turnaround at its biggest brand as demand dips in key Chinese marketGucci accounts for around half of Kering’s revenues


Kering warns on profit as Gucci sales plunge on Kering warns on profit as Gucci sales plunge.

Kering posted a further decline in sales at Gucci and warned operating income would almost halve this year as it grapples with a difficult turnaround at its biggest brand and deteriorating demand for luxury goods in the key Chinese market. The Paris-listed group said on Wednesday that like-for-like sales fell 25 per cent in the three months to September at Gucci, worse than expected by analysts.

It also marked a sharper decline than in previous quarters and the fifth straight quarter of falling like-for-like revenues. For the group as a whole, sales were down 16 per cent like-for-like, coming in at €3.8bn.The analyst consensus from Bloomberg was for group revenues of €3.96bn, or a 10.9 per cent fall on a like-for-like basis.

For Gucci there were predictions of a €1.75bn or 20.66 per cent like-for-like fall.Gucci accounts for around half the group’s revenues and two-thirds of operating profit.Unusually for the luxury sector, Kering has issued several profit warnings this year and last warned in July that second-half operating income would be down 30 per cent.

The trend confirms a broader slowdown in demand from shoppers in China. Kering rival LVMH, the world’s largest luxury group and owner of Louis Vuitton and Dior, reported a fall in sales last week sparking concerns that the sector faces a prolonged period of volatility and muted growth. Cosmetics maker L’Oréal also posted disappointing sales growth this week after Chinese demand dipped, with consumer confidence low despite government stimulus measures.

Few brands have been shielded from the downturn in the Chinese economy, with the exception of Birkin-bag maker Hermès whose products are considered the pinnacle of high-end luxury. Hermès reports third-quarter sales on Thursday.

Shares in Kering have fallen more than 40 per cent since the start of the year, contrasting with a 16 per cent drop at LVMH. Gucci’s poor performance over the past year is putting pressure on chief executive François-Henri Pinault of the controlling billionaire Pinault family to fix underlying issues at the brand and show its once potent earnings machine can deliver.

Envied in recent years for its industry-busting sales growth under previous designer Alessandro Michele, the frenzy for Gucci’s flamboyant designs eventually faded.

Earlier this month Kering appointed Stefano Cantino, a former Vuitton and Prada marketing specialist, as chief executive, promoting him after he joined Gucci in a deputy role in May. He has a mission to boost Gucci’s flagging performance alongside designer Sabato de Sarno who has adopted a sleeker aesthetic.
 
www.ft.com

Stefano Cantino, the Gucci executive with the hardest job in luxury​

Former Vuitton and Prada executive must execute a turnaround of the struggling Gucci brand

October 11 2024

Weeks after joining Gucci as deputy chief executive in May, Stefano Cantino rubbed shoulders with stars and owner Kering’s top brass as the Italian brand took over London’s Tate Modern to stage its lavish runway show.But the spectacle and huge after-party — where Kering executives mingled with guests and supermodel Kate Moss draped herself over Mark Ronson’s DJ booth — barely masked the difficulties ailing Gucci is facing.When Kering this week announced its decision to promote Cantino to chief executive of the French luxury conglomerate’s biggest brand and profit centre, they were counting on his five-year stint at LVMH’s Louis Vuitton and two decades at Prada to lead the Florentine house out of decline.It is a tall order. Cantino is now charged with executing the biggest and most complex turnaround in the sector at a time when global appetite for high-priced handbags and fashion is ebbing and growth engine China is faltering.



“Stefano Cantino becoming chief executive doesn’t surprise me, this was the plan from day one,” said Thomas Chauvet at Citigroup, although he added that the degree of downturn in the market and pressure on Gucci may have increased the urgency.

“I don’t expect a revolution . . . He will have to work on making sure what has been done in the past 18 months” under predecessor Jean-François Palus “materialises into numbers”.

Gucci is in urgent need of revival.Kering this year issued several profit warnings, a rarity among big luxury groups, because of cratering sales at the brand, and has alerted investors that it expects group operating income in the second half of this year to be 30 per cent lower than the same period in 2023.Barclays expects Gucci sales to be down 23 per cent in the third quarter against a year earlier.

Born in Turin, Cantino studied political science at the city’s university before joining Prada. During two decades at the luxury group, where he rose to lead communications and marketing, he worked closely with Francesca Bellettini, now deputy CEO of Kering.They stayed in touch after he left in 2018 to join Louis Vuitton, which at the time was undergoing rapid growth under chief executive Michael Burke, becoming the first luxury brand to crack €20bn in annual sales.



The 57-year-old takes the lead at Gucci at a time of flux, with new designer Sabato de Sarno less than two years and six collections into the role following the departure of former star designer Alessandro Michele.Cantino replaces Jean-François Palus, a three-decade Kering veteran who was appointed interim Gucci CEO in July 2023 and is a close associate of group chief executive François-Henri Pinault.



While that interim role was made permanent in February, people with knowledge of the situation said the plan was always to have a fairly rapid transition.

Palus’s goals were “to assess the Gucci situation, bring efficiency and search for the CEO . . . We identified Stefano very fast,” said one person close to Kering.

Cantino “combines together exactly what we need at Gucci, because Gucci is a company with two souls: the soul of heritage and the soul of fashion”, the person added. “Having been at Prada and Louis Vuitton, he combines both — that double experience is very precious to us.”Since arriving at Gucci, Cantino — who is described as direct, exacting and analytical by people who have worked with him but also as charming and well-connected in the fashion world has been working closely with De Sarno, including on the brand’s splashy new campaign featuring rock star Debbie Harry of Blondie while working with the Gucci teams on improving product lines and mix.

In addition to contending with a slowing global luxury market, Gucci is also working to reimagine its aesthetic and image several years after Michele’s maximalist vision — which catapulted the brand to huge success for some time — stopped selling well.


Kering hopes that De Sarno’s sleeker, more pared down style will help it achieve its strategy of elevating the brand and making it more timeless so it will be less vulnerable to trend cycles. But it is still not clear whether Gucci’s customers will buy in.While Cantino’s background centred on image and communications strategy might raise some concerns about his experience with operations, people close to Kering say he has the skills they need.

At Prada, he worked not only on brand positioning — a key challenge facing Gucci — and communications but also on strategy and acquisitions, including its 1999 deal to buy British shoemaker Church’s.

Within Kering, executives watched closely as their rival Louis Vuitton appointed the late visionary streetwear designer Virgil Abloh, then musician and producer Pharrell Williams to design menswear, providing big boosts to the brands and widening its audience during Cantino’s time there.

At Vuitton, “in terms of product architecture, he did a lot”, said the person close to Kering. “The turnaround [at Gucci] is not only about taking a listed company and turning it around, but it’s also turning around big areas within big organisations. This is where he is really good.”This is not the first time Kering has had to reinvent Gucci, but the brand still has a long way to go.“Changing brand perception through reduction of outlets [and] brand elevation does take time,” analysts at Barclays wrote, but “we think that Gucci’s recovery story could be delayed . . . Current expectations could be too ambitious, and [we] see risks of further earnings cuts.

”With Cantino set to take charge in January, “the full casting is now in place,” said Chauvet at Citi. “Now it’s all about execution.”
 
I began to think hiring two separate designers would be best option for Gucci. The brand has potential but now it’s sinking ship and no one on the horizon to steer that away from the iceberg.
 
I don't get all the hate posts regarding "Ancora guy" since Gucci's current mess is not because of Di Sarno who's just a "safe" -not a brilliant - choice. Gucci trouble started with Alessandro's repeated styling tricks. I wonder why they hired him at Valentino, makes absolutely no sense to me.
 
I don't get all the hate posts regarding "Ancora guy" since Gucci's current mess is not because of Di Sarno who's just a "safe" -not a brilliant - choice. Gucci trouble started with Alessandro's repeated styling tricks. I wonder why they hired him at Valentino, makes absolutely no sense to me.
If I recall correctly, sales growth was down, but it was never in the red. The brand in its current state is not comparable to when Michele was there. As it stands right now, It’s basically as bad as it’s going to get before entering into meltdown mode.
 
If I recall correctly, sales growth was down, but it was never in the red. The brand in its current state is not comparable to when Michele was there. As it stands right now, It’s basically as bad as it’s going to get before entering into meltdown mode.
Growth slowed down from 2019, but the sale number never went down during Michele's tenure.
 
I don't get all the hate posts regarding "Ancora guy" since Gucci's current mess is not because of Di Sarno who's just a "safe" -not a brilliant - choice. Gucci trouble started with Alessandro's repeated styling tricks. I wonder why they hired him at Valentino, makes absolutely no sense to me.
Sales under AM could never continue at the white-hot pace of his early years; however, he did nearly triple sales. That's not to be discounted.

A calibration was needed but wholesale change to a new designer and ho-hum aesthetic was not the answer.

GUCCI needs to double down on beauty and fragrance sales and end their partnership with Coty. They also need to ensure that they elevate their leather goods business, which is already great but it needs to be even grander. Gucci’s quality surpasses some brands that cost twice as much.

They sell a lot of clothes, which can be both a blessing and curse, but it is usually a blessing for them. Gucci has cultural cache with so many demographics BECAUSE of the clothes. The current offer is just missing the mark, point blank.
 
If I recall correctly, sales growth was down, but it was never in the red. The brand in its current state is not comparable to when Michele was there. As it stands right now, It’s basically as bad as it’s going to get before entering into meltdown mode.
During Michelle the "core Gucci client" was alienated from the brand. They desperately need to get this client back, enters the watered down Gucci vision of Di Sarno. It will take some time to start working, but it will eventually work.

Times are changing. The Luxury shakeup is all about more results / less hype.
 
During Michelle the "core Gucci client" was alienated from the brand. They desperately need to get this client back, enters the watered down Gucci vision of Di Sarno. It will take some time to start working, but it will eventually work.

Times are changing. The Luxury shakeup is all about more results / less hype.
So are you saying that it will need to go to ashes and then the Phoenix will rise? What’s the time horizon you are allowing for?

Are we certain that Gucci completely ‘lost’ its core customers under AM? There was something for everyone to an extent.
 
Sales under AM could never continue at the white-hot pace of his early years; however, he did nearly triple sales. That's not to be discounted.

A calibration was needed but wholesale change to a new designer and ho-hum aesthetic was not the answer.

GUCCI needs to double down on beauty and fragrance sales and end their partnership with Coty. They also need to ensure that they elevate their leather goods business, which is already great but it needs to be even grander. Gucci’s quality surpasses some brands that cost twice as much.

They sell a lot of clothes, which can be both a blessing and curse, but it is usually a blessing for them. Gucci has cultural cache with so many demographics BECAUSE of the clothes. The current offer is just missing the mark, point blank.
As a fact AM never ever thried to connect with the core Gucci client (bankers, executives etc,). He did not designed for them so he drove them away from the brand, it's so very simple. To get back to the core client Gucci chose a "safe" bland and commercial strategy. And then came the chinese lux market meltdown.

Gucci does not sell a lot of clothes, garment section is less than 9% of the annual turnaround. Most luxury brands are on the same line.
 
So are you saying that it will need to go to ashes and then the Phoenix will rise? What’s the time horizon you are allowing for?

Are we certain that Gucci completely ‘lost’ its core customers under AM? There was something for everyone to an extent.
I'm not saying anything and I have no "opinion" on this. It's just a marketing plan that may or might not work.
Gucci needs their core client back and they will get him back sooner or later, with or without Di Sarno.
Fashion is all about clever or not so clever marketing moves & communication strategies. It's not about clothes or designers.
 
As a fact AM never ever thried to connect with the core Gucci client (bankers, executives etc,). He did not designed for them so he drove them away from the brand, it's so very simple. To get back to the core client Gucci chose a "safe" bland and commercial strategy. And then came the chinese lux market meltdown.

Gucci does not sell a lot of clothes, garment section is less than 9% of the annual turnaround. Most luxury brands are on the same line.
In 2023, according to statista, 15% of Gucci’s approximate €10B in revenue was from RTW. For a luxury brand, that’s absolutely a lot of clothes.
 
During Michelle the "core Gucci client" was alienated from the brand. They desperately need to get this client back, enters the watered down Gucci vision of Di Sarno. It will take some time to start working, but it will eventually work.

Times are changing. The Luxury shakeup is all about more results / less hype.

But why would Kering want to get the "core Gucci client" back if they tripled sales without them? From a business point of view that makes no sense. Gucci under Alessandro did $10 billion without that appealing to that supposed core clientele.

Sabato will never be able to achieve that level of revenue, he is just too limited in his design abilities and overall vision for the brand. Not to mention the people above him have no idea what they're doing.

Gucci wants to be an Hermes type brand with the prices of Hermes but with the distribution of Zara and the marketing image of Calvin Klein Jeans. I'm sorry but you can't have it all. You can't put a campaign out with Bad Bunny and Kendall Jenner and then expect people to view you as a sophisticated and uber-luxurious brand.

Gucci made big mistakes at the start of Sabato's tenure and now they're paying for it.
 

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