Recently, Kering and Capri appointed new CEOs of Alexander McQueen and Versace, respectively. It is worth mentioning that these two seemingly unrelated appointments are actually inextricably linked, they are like a network of interlocking relationships, which also reflects the real situation of fashion executives today.
Gianfilippo Testa, former Gucci President of Emea and Vice President of Global Retail, appointed as the new CEO of Alexander McQueen by Kering, will succeed emmanuel Gintzburger. Emmanuel Gintzburger will switch to Versace, replacing Jonathan Akeroyd, who officially joined Burberry last week as CEO. Marco Gobbetti, the former CEO of Burberry, returned to his homeland as the new CEO of Italian luxury brand Salvatore Ferragamo.
Gianfilippo Testa
Prior to that, Jonathan Akeroyd spent 12 years at Alexander McQueen and joined Versace in 2016. From Emmanuel Gintzburger to Jonathan Akeroyd, Alexander McQueen has, in a way, become a "training ground" for Versace executives. Giovanna Brambilla, a partner at Milan-based executive search firm Value Search, told WWD that there are some commonalities between Alexander McQueen and Versace, such as creative affinity and the fact that they are both fashion brands driven by clear brand identity.
Jonathan Akeroyd
Giovanna Brambilla pointed out that Emmanuel Gintzburger's tenure has helped expand and improve the market competitiveness of Alexander McQueen's accessories category and expand the brand's global direct retail network, which is precisely the ability that Versace values. "In addition, we saw Alexander McQueen's sustainability efforts, such as the Fall/Winter 2022 fashion show in New York, where the brand made heavy use of recycled materials. In the future, sustainability will become another driver of Versace's brand development. ”
Emmanuel Gintzburger
In addition, Loro Piana appointed Damien Bertrand, the high-end general manager of Dior, who is also from the LVMH Group, as the new CEO last year, Kenzo, MSGM, L'Occitane Group, etc. made new CEO appointments, and the senior management of Calvin Klein, Estée Lauder Group, Hugo Boss, Dior and other brands also ushered in changes.
The fashion industry, which has experienced the baptism of the epidemic, is at a critical turning point, and brands are actively looking for innovation opportunities. In the past year or two, the increasingly frequent changes in executive personnel have also revealed a little. The new CEOs face a heavy responsibility for the sustainable development of the brand, and their assumption of office also reflects the changes in the luxury market.
Caroline Pill, who heads global executive search at Kirk Palmer Associates, has made it clear: "Consumer-centric companies lead to stronger brand stories, which is of interest to the fashion industry." ”
Once the luxury fashion industry operated according to the traditional drip theory, the spread of instant installation is a top-down process, by the upper people who control the right to speak in fashion to create a trend, the lower level of the masses to follow the trend of imitation, thus spreading layer by layer to the bottom of the masses. Luxury goods, because of their high prices, exquisite craftsmanship, and historical stories passed down from generation to generation, have become symbols of the upper class, creating one mysterious and gorgeous dream after another for the majority of consumers.
In recent years, the global economy has led to a significant increase in per capita income, and consumer demand for luxury goods has moved from the fourth layer of Maslow's demand level (self-respect) to the fifth layer (self-realization). This means that a new generation of luxury consumers no longer see luxury consumption as a symbol of social status, but as a way to express themselves and please themselves.
This was followed by democratization by luxury brands led by Louis Vuitton, allowing luxury goods to be accepted by a wider range of people. Subcultures have gone mainstream, and under the interaction of social trends and brand actions, consumers have become more "independent and confident", and the traditional drip theory has been rewritten. At the same time, the digital wave has made it easy to build a brand, thus spawning new brands that are constantly pouring into the market. There is no doubt that the current consumer is in an environment of brand information explosion, and the traditional luxury fashion brand situation is not optimistic.
In the new consumer-oriented era of consumption, CEOs who know consumers better are favored. Kenzo's newly appointed CEO, Sylvain Blanc, started his career as Deputy to the Merchandising Director at Paris Spring and later became Head of Strategic Planning for Stores.
Sylvain Blanc
MSGM's new CEO, Veronica Bertozzi, previously served as Wholesale Director at Stella McCartney. Based on her extensive sales experience, she announced that she would create a new, independent commercial division with footwear and accessories as a development focus after taking office at MSGM.
The fashion industry favors CEOs who understand consumers, but it also presents them with great challenges. In its 2021 CEO Survey, IBM pointed out the importance of technology and digitalization to CEOs, and that consumer insights alone are not enough, and companies with outstanding performance can go further and value the consumer experience - "High-performing companies are more proactive in applying data and valuing interaction." Instead of simply responding to data, they use data to build and shape customer relationships. ”
The fashion industry has always favored beauty industry executives. Béatrice Ballini, managing director of Russell Reynolds, said: "Fashion brands need a fresh perspective, and the current demand for brands to connect with a wider audience, rather than portraying themselves as pure idealists, executives who have worked in the beauty industry have experiences facing a wider audience. ”
Executive search firms agree that the phenomenon of fast-moving consumer goods industry executives represented by beauty in the fashion industry has a long history. Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou was one of the most influential crossover figures, stepping down as President of L'Oréal Paris Global Brand to become Louis Vuitton's Director of Fashion and Leather Goods Strategy. Fran oise Montenay, former president of Chanel's fashion division, was from the beauty industry; Pietro Beccari, who has a decade of experience at The German consumer goods giant Henkel, moved to Louis Vuitton in 2006 to take care of the ready-to-wear and accessories department; and Véronique Gautier started in the beauty industry and came to Hermès.
In the past two years, the source of talent for the senior management of the fashion industry has spread from beauty to a wider field. With the rise of the "experience economy", many fashion brands have transformed into lifestyles. The fashion industry believes that marketing talents with diverse experience in the consumer goods industry can bring new blood to brands.
Last year, Tiffany appointed chief marketing officer CMO for the first time in five years, Andrea Davey. She has been with Tiffany since 2013 and previously held various marketing executive positions at Procter & Gamble. Calvin Klein left last year as Executive Vice President of Global Brands and North American Marketing Jamaal Layne, who has also held marketing positions at leading brands in different industries, including Converse, Adidas, Microsoft, Nike, etc.
Andrea Davey
Also last year, Chanel abruptly announced Leena Nair as the brand's new global CEO, an appointment that took effect in January. With Leena Nair in office, Alain Wertheimer will become Global Executive Chairman. Prior to Leena Nair, Chanel's global CEO was Maureen Chiquet, who left Chanel in 2016 because of his disagreement with the Wertheimer brothers, the brand's de facto owners. Until the arrival of Leena Nair, Chanel's position had been vacant for 5 years.
Prior to joining Chanel, Leena Nair served as Head of Human Resources and Member of the Executive Committee at Unilever, in addition to serving as a non-executive board member of British Telecom and a non-executive director of the UK Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy division. Compared to other fashion executives, Leena Nair doesn't have any track record or experience with fashion luxury brands. Luca Solca, Senior Research Analyst for Global Luxury Goods at Bain& Company, said: "Chanel is following the trend of recruiting senior executives from fast-growing consumer goods companies to manage luxury goods. ”
Leena Nair
The personnel trends of senior executives in the fashion industry highlight the brand's strategic direction and focus in the coming years. From the above trends, we can know that the current luxury fashion industry is undergoing two major transformations.
On the one hand, luxury fashion brands are gradually turning consumer-oriented. But simply understanding the consumer is not enough to support long-term growth, and brands need to make good use of digital tools. According to PwC's Global CEO Survey, nearly half of CEOs plan to invest 10% or more in digital transformation. In the field of digitalization, the fashion industry is relatively lagging behind other mass consumer goods categories. The information overload of the digital age also makes marketing communications increasingly important. With the digitization of consumption and the popularization of fashion, the future fashion industry will have more consumer-oriented and digital marketing-oriented commercial brands. On the other hand, the diversification of the fashion industry has also led to the rise of more and more female executives, who have begun to enter the power core of the fashion industry. Whether it is poaching executives from the FMCG industry, appointing young executives to achieve the goal of brand rejuvenation, or appointing more female executives to maintain brand competitiveness and overcome prejudices, it is a manifestation of the fashion industry's desire to achieve transformation.
After a series of consumption transformations, CEOs who can use digital technology to gain insight into consumer mentalities from multiple perspectives and interact with consumers in a timely manner are the talents that are most needed in the fashion industry today. The frequent change of executives and CEOs, from the current point of view or will continue to become a long-term phenomenon, after all, the capital to give executives trial and error patience and time to achieve the goal has become less and less, not to change people, to be able to "save" the brand, is one of the signs of this "ruthless" and constantly running fashion industry. WWD
Written by Karlie
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