I’ve heard of some loyal customers including whom are high-profile that essentially made 2015-2023 Gucci their lifestyle, and some who are big spenders in China, completely stopped going to stores after one visit when Sabato’s shows and the redesigned storefronts rolled out.
The current majority of new customers that go in the stores already knowing what they would purchase end up showing the salesgirls photos of items that happen to be done by the design team or belonged to Alessandro’s seasons instead of Sabato’s collections, along with dramatically increased prices if still available.
So I wouldn’t rid Sabato of fault like most articles have been spouting that the Kering board made him push bland basic-like designs that were unappealing and lacking any unique world-building or allowing his vision of banal storefronts that looked just like any minimal wannabe store come to fruition. Just look at how he dresses in that dog walking video and if you are brave enough, his Instagram account. Although I think everyone here already has…
This. AM Gucci was democratic in that many wealthy and higher aspirational people made it a “family affair.” The whole family enjoyed the fun and ostentation. It was all very welcoming. And despite the noise you hear about AM collections being over the top or too accessible, the price points were very high (thanks, Kering), and there were plenty of timeless pieces… if someone went to the store. I feel like some people only knew the runway collections that they probably never even tried on anyway.
Gucci has always had a large bag and leather business, and this is what they need to elevate and tweak. They need accessories, bags, and leather to be as timeless as LV or Chanel. Stop selling so much at the outlet, be mindful of your brand ambassadors (no one cares about Kendall), and you must have a seasonal and permanent collection. Use seasonal for idea testing to find new classics.
Separately, Gucci needs full control of beauty. Buy back the license from COTY, they are useless, and bring it in-house and introduce high-end fragrance, home, and makeup that can get double its current size. Gucci fragrances should be as covetable as Le Labo but more expensive, more talked about, and with much higher sales. They need to reintroduce fragrance. Fragrance is a lower-hanging fruit, but it needs to be done well. You will consumers with fragrance. How you smell is very personal, and people obsess over it.
Separately, Kering has some deceleration at Balenciaga and YSL. At Balenciaga, the prices are OBSCENE. It is just too much. Demma and team have some great products, but it is too limited and too expensive. Why am I being asked to pay $4,000 for a cute track sweatset? People will just move on. Between vintage, thrifting, some more moderately priced brands, and even Instagram brands, you can pretty much get the Balenciaga look and not feel like an idiot for paying that much.
YSL is as beautiful as always, but the RTW is just too advanced for many. Gorgeous and well made, but it is for a rarefied jet set group that buys collections and then sells them to TheRealReal after one wear. AV can keep doing that, but the merch teams need to be rounding that out with some product that is for every day. They also need to focus on their leather business the quality and designs could use some tweaking.
