Gucci design chief De Sarno steps down as Kering targets turnaround
Kering has parted ways with Gucci’s creative director Sabato de Sarno, two years after he was hired to lead a turnaround at the beleaguered brand.
Sarno joined the brand in 2023 to replace Alessandro Michele, whose maximalist and genderfluid designs had defined the fashion house during his seven-year run.
However, Sarno’s more paired-back direction failed to gain traction and win shoppers around, particularly in the midst of a wider luxury slowdown which has impacted a swathe of top brands.
Analysts at RPC, Piral Dadhania and Richard Chamberlain, said Sarno’s exit “does not come as a full surprise”, and said it was “the necessary next step to reignite brand momentum and for Gucci to recover some of the lost market share.”
Profit at Gucci halved in the last financial year, with a pre-tax profit of £4.8m for 2023, down from the £9m it achieved in 2022. Its turnover declined from £206.3m to £184.6m over the same financial year.
The share price of its parent company, Euronext-listed Kering, has fallen nearly 40 per cent in the past year.
“Brand momentum improvements typically surface by the fifth or sixth quarter of a creative leadership change, but this hasn’t been the case for Gucci,” Jelena Sokolova, senior equity analyst at Morningstar, said.
“A Gucci rebound in 2025 seems unlikely at this stage,” Sokolova added.
Investment director at AJ Bell, Russ Mould, warned that “normally, a change in a strategically important director after a bad patch would be applauded by the market… The fact Kering’s share price fell on the news implies that investors don’t believe there is a simple solution to the company’s problems.”
Analysts across the board warned that a creative turnaround wouldn’t be easy or quick, with time needed to both replace Sarno and let a new creative direction take effect.
“While this shift presents an opportunity, the process of appointing a new creative leader and seeing tangible results is prolonged,” Sokolova said.
The announcement of the departure comes with Gucci’s Fall-Winter show at Milan Fashion Week less than three weeks away.