Kering’s challenges in 2023

The luxury conglomerate is entering a dark and unstable phase after a series of substantial episodes for its brands, such as the Balenciaga scandal, the changing of the guard at Gucci or the Chinese policy of Covid Zero, the most important market for the company. These will be the major challenges that Kering will have to face during this new journey around the sun.

In recent months, François-Henri Pinault‘s group has had to deal with the Balenciaga scandals, the withdrawal of Alessandro Michele from Gucci, and heavy losses in the Chinese market, due to the increase in Covid cases and the blocking policies applied in the country.

In this sense, Kering has gone from being at the top to falling at a frenetic pace. Its brands that, until very recently, were conceived as the great references at the forefront of fashion, now seem to be relegated to the margins of the system. But to really verify this, we will have to see the group’s results, which will be unveiled on February 15, the day on which it is due to present its fourth-quarter and annual earnings.

The luxury group has been trying to alleviate then all the problems that have orbited the Kering universe, and its constellation of firms. From the appointment of Sabato de Sarno to the creative direction of Gucci, to its permission for Demna Gvasalia to express himself about what happened in Balenciaga, and to announce the return of this same on the catwalk during the next Paris Fashion Week.

All this has thus destabilized the great pillars on which the company was based, which now faces a new challenge in China, where sales have plummeted after an unexpected increase in cases of coronavirus. A field from which most of the group’s profits flourished, which it will have to somehow revive, as well as the revival of Gucci and Balenciaga.