Sabato De Sarno - Designer, Creative Director of Gucci

[yslforever]

I rarely speak with Kering people but they told me that MANY FLAGSHIPS (I don’t know what’s wrong with me today writing in capital letters… seriously, I’m feeling very dramatic) do not even carry the RTW collection by Sabato. Isn’t that crazy???? Maybe you already mentioned it before, but going to a flagship and not finding RTW by the creative director is kind of CRAZY. We are not talking about a 10M point of sale… we are talking about the biggest flagship in a country. 🤐

It's not crazy, it's Kering being Kering, it's the same at BV and YSL.
They think garments are not as profitable as accessories: they prefer dedicating the expensive retail space to bags (which are produced in one to 3 sizes) over garments: 8 sizes, more expensive price tags, difficult to sell because of body types, seasonality, discounts. With accessories, the questions (and costs) of sizing, body types, more expensive tags, are evacuated.
They see producing clothes as an inconvenient necessity, it's necessary to hype the brands and the image but if they can avoid the production and distribution of garments, they would prefer avoid if they can.
Or in very limited series.

Edit: also, they don't want any kind of sale or discount, but clothes are seasonal, after a season what are they going to do with the remaining inventory, as they don't want to advertise sales ? They concluded the best for them was to avoid the hassle of producing, distributing, selling, discounting clothes.

 

[Creative]

It's not crazy, it's Kering being Kering, it's the same at BV and YSL.
They think garments are not as profitable as accessories: they prefer dedicating the expensive retail space to bags (which are produced in one to 3 sizes) over garments: 8 sizes, more expensive price tags, difficult to sell because of body types, seasonality, discounts. With accessories, the questions (and costs) of sizing, body types, more expensive tags, are evacuated.
They see producing clothes as an inconvenient necessity, it's necessary to hype the brands and the image but if they can avoid the production and distribution of garments, they would prefer avoid if they can.
Or in very limited series.

Edit: also, they don't want any kind of sale or discount, but clothes are seasonal, after a season what are they going to do with the remaining inventory, as they don't want to advertise sales ? They concluded the best for them was to avoid the hassle of producing, distributing, selling, discounting clothes.

I mean, that’s something every brand knows: bags are easier than rtw. And also, everybody knows the sell-through in RTW is always lower than other categories. The thing is that they still have garments in the store but different ones from the fashion show. They still have the rtw area, it’s not like they are putting bags in those rooms. They put other items designed for the boutique. And it’s not like Sabato is doing experimental things. The show is as basic as the ones on display, it’s just not selling and they decided to cancel it.

Nevertheless, I know no brand that wants to have a full business dependent on accessories. At every major brand they fight for at least 15% to 20% of the mix in RTW. It’s a category everyone wants to boost and it’s considered as an important one, and they invest a lot on it.

 

[Frederic01]

I rarely speak with Kering people but they told me that MANY FLAGSHIPS (I don’t know what’s wrong with me today writing in capital letters… seriously, I’m feeling very dramatic) do not even carry the RTW collection by Sabato. Isn’t that crazy???? Maybe you already mentioned it before, but going to a flagship and not finding RTW by the creative director is kind of CRAZY. We are not talking about a 10M point of sale… we are talking about the biggest flagship in a country. 🤐

I was told by people working at Gucci that this was a strategic move to give more exclusivity and rarity to his collections. Prada is currently implementing the same strategy. The runway collections are transitioning to a more "made-to-order" approach rather than just being readily available for clients to purchase.

 

[Creative]

I was told by people working at Gucci that this was a strategic move to give more exclusivity and rarity to his collections. Prada is currently implementing the same strategy. The runway collections are transitioning to a more "made-to-order" approach rather than just being readily available for clients to purchase.

There has always been a MTO offer in the collections… and believe me, it’s not for exclusivity. They need to produce a % of garments and the buying team decide to produce the more sellable. But even sometimes the merchandising team must buy certain pieces (a few) that they don’t believe in just for image. The ones that cannot sell easily in stores they put them in the MTO offer.

Also, the MTO can take months sometimes… and it’s not a Kelly bag tbh, it’s Gucci or Prada, not the peak of luxury if you ask me. The timings usually create lot of discomfort to the clients, because it takes more than expected, and then the season is over and the new things come and the product already looks old.

It’s just a sign that a business it’s not working. They believe that if they produce it the ST will be 20% and it’s a lot of money wasted.

 

[PDFSD]

It's Gonna Be a worse situation than Dior by Galliano in the 2000's when the runway piece were Just show pieces. His stuff does not sell. Full stop. The only items that are gonna be shown at the shops for the upcoming Ss25 show are the baggy pants with the slits at the bottom, the logo tank tops and some A line dress with bamboo details.
But let's Not Act like Dior or Louis are better: you can find Ghesquiere stuff in stores but most of the time it's Just for shop display...it's hard to find People Who are into 80's scifi obsession a la Nicolas

.......but with LV NG´s runway experiments end up being integrated into the commercial collections wayyyyyy more than at Gucci, its actually how it's set up at LV that details especially hard wear details and cuts get commercialized for a more continuative collection.

and that the fashion show collection serves for the experimentation and progress in development for acc and rtw to have new classics, this endless evolving wardrobe idea that was the concept since day one NG started at LV.