Gucci’s creative director Sabato De Sarno leaves after 2 years

French luxury group Kering has parted with the designer of its biggest brand, Gucci, just two years after he was hired to lead a turnaround at the struggling Italian fashion house.

Kering said on Thursday that it had ended its “collaboration” with Gucci creative director Sabato De Sarno. The next collection in February will be presented by the in-house design team, and new artistic direction will be announced in due course.

De Sarno’s departure highlights that the turnaround at Gucci — which accounts for about half of Kering’s annual sales and two-thirds of its operating income — is not progressing as hoped. Shares in Kering fell 2.3 per cent in morning trading on Thursday (Feb 6), and are down almost 40 per cent over the past year.

Two people close to internal discussions said the company began looking for alternatives last summer. Loewe creative director Jonathan Anderson, who works for larger rival LVMH, was one of several designers that had talks with the brand as early as July.

However, one of the people said the British designer was not convinced. Anderson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

People with knowledge of the situation said they did not expect De Sarno to leave before May when his two-year contract was due to expire. Two people close to the company said Kering chose to accelerate its plans to replace the designer ahead of fourth-quarter earnings next week, which they said would show ongoing problems with the turnaround. Kering declined to comment.

“I sincerely thank Sabato for his loyalty and professionalism. I am proud of the work that has been done to further strengthen Gucci’s fundamentals,” said Kering’s deputy chief executive Francesca Bellettini. “[Gucci chief] Stefano Cantino and the new artistic direction will continue to build on this and to guide Gucci towards renewed fashion leadership and sustainable growth.”

Kering has been behind its peers for years since the style of Gucci’s former star designer Alessandro Michele fell out of favour, while dependence on China for sales left the group exposed when that market failed to recover from pandemic lockdowns.

Kering issued several profit warnings last year — normally a scarce occurrence in the luxury sector — after sales at Gucci plunged because of weak Chinese demand.

In October, it forecast its full-year operating income would be 46 per cent lower than in 2023 at about €2.5 billion (US$2.6 billion; S$3.51 billion). It is due to report full-year earnings next week.

“De Sarno’s designs failed to reignite brand momentum during his short time at Gucci,” wrote Carole Madjo, analyst at Barclays. His unexpected departure “could be seen as a small positive for the brand, but also brings short-term disruption risk and low visibility on [the] path of recovery”.

In an Instagram post on Thursday, De Sarno wrote: “Any important project relies on the passion, the intelligence and heart of extraordinary people . . . A thank you would not be enough maybe. But today my joy is for you.”

Adrienne Klasa in Paris and Silvia Sciorilli Borrelli in Milan © 2025 The Financial Times Ltd.

This article originally appeared in The Financial Times.