Analysts at UK bank Barclays think the split between Gucci and creative director Sabato De Sarno was “surprising, since the designer only joined the company in 2023,” and that his departure will cause “further disruption and uncertainty at Gucci in the short term,” also because the products designed by De Sarno were still being launched in-store in H2 2024. Hence there is greater risk for the label’s fiscal 2025 profitability.
De Sarno’s departure “could be seen as a small positive for the brand, since a potential new creative director might have a better chance of relaunching the label.” De Sarno’s designs “failed to reignite brand momentum during his short time at Gucci,” said Barclays, mentioning that the Italian designer joined Gucci in January 2023 to replace long-established creative director Alessandro Michele, “whose bold, eccentric aesthetic positively shook up the market and led Gucci to significantly overperform in the 2016-2020 period.”
After De Sarno’s arrival, “[Gucci’s] performance has remained weak so far. 2024 was a very tough year for the label, and we’re forecasting organic growth at 21% and EBIT margin at 20.7%, compared to 33.1% the year before,” concluded Barclays.
