This photo taken on September 28, 2024, shows then Gucci deputy CEO (Chief Executive Officer) Stefano Cantino posing upon arrival ahead of The BoF 500 Gala at the Shangri-La Hotel in Paris, on the sidelines of the Paris Fashion Week Spring-Summer 2025. French luxury group Kering announced on October 8, 2024, the appointment of Stefano Cantino as CEO of Gucci, the company's troubled flagship brand. (Photo by GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP)
Paris: French luxury holding company Kering on Tuesday named Stefano Cantino as director general of Gucci to revive sales at its troubled flagship subsidiary.
He will replace Jean-Francois Palus, a close associate of Kering CEO Francois-Henri Pinault, who was named interim head of the Italian fashion company in July 2023 with the aim of hiring new top management.
"I am confident that, building on what has been set up over the past 15 months, Stefano and the Gucci team will succeed in the mission to take Gucci back to the leadership the brand deserves," Francesca Bellettini, deputy CEO of Kering in charge of brand development, said in a statement.
Cantino joined Gucci in May 2024 as deputy CEO following five-years at Louis Vuitton, where he oversaw communications and image, and 20 years at Prada.
Gucci sales fell 20 percent in the first half of the year to 4 billion euros ($4.4 billion). It represents almost half of Kering's revenue and two-thirds of its operating profits.
