shake up Kering, without destabilising it completely,” Mathew Dixon, a partner at DHR Global, told Inside Retail. “Clearly change is essential and there will be further downsizing of teams, so installing Bellettini is logical to maintain consistency and get the best out of Demna.” Why Francesca Bellettini? A former investment banker turned fashion executive, Bellettini joined Saint Laurent as CEO in 2013. Since being elevated to Kering deputy CEO in mid-2023, she has been deeply involved in reshaping the group’s creative landscape, helping install new designers at Gucci, Balenciaga and Bottega Veneta. She has also overseen new CEO appointments across the portfolio, including at Gucci, Brioni and Saint Laurent. Just as importantly, Bellettini already has an established working relationship with Demna, the polarising Balenciaga designer tapped earlier this year to take over Gucci’s creative reins.  “De Meo has to balance dynamic internal change with winning back the customer across all the Kering brands. Bellettini already has a relationship with Demna, and the two should be a strong partnership. It allows de Meo to focus on correcting the bigger flaws in the group. It is the same challenge he faced at Renault, reducing costs, whilst elevating the product – this is what he was hired for,” Dixon added.  The urgency of Gucci’s revival Kering’s finances leave little room for hesitation. In the first half of this year, the French luxury group reported a 46 per cent plunge in net profit, driven largely by a 25 per cent year-on-year sales drop at Gucci. Once the engine of the company’s growth, the Italian house is now dragging the group down with falling traffic in China, slowing US demand and brand confusion among consumers. Faced with ballooning debt and declining margins, Kering has been forced to shutter stores, sell real estate and trim headcount. For de Meo, tasked with delivering a turnaround plan before year’s end, stabilising Gucci is now the top priority.  “To have a brand-new creative director and CEO is simply too risky, as Gucci’s swift revival is essential to Kering,” he added.  “Gucci has to regain its relevance, desirability and identity with the consumer, who is confused as to what it now stands for. Early leaks suggest Demna will reference the Tom Ford era as the core house codes and build upon the opulent heritage of the house. Demna has the task of rebuilding sales while not being so divisive that Gucci faces another slump when he eventually leaves. I think you [will] see a side to him that is very different to his Balenciaga era.” Cantino’s short-lived reign  A veteran of Prada and Louis Vuitton with deep experience in communications and merchandising, Cantino was promoted to CEO in January after less than a year at Gucci. He spent much of his tenure restructuring teams and hiring fresh talent, including new regional heads and senior merchandising executives. “Stefano Cantino always felt a strange hire for a brand that needed a turnaround strategy,” Dixon said.  With Gucci’s sales continuing to fall, his departure after just nine months suggests de Meo saw little reason to prolong the experiment. The shake-up at Gucci is just one piece of a broader reconfiguration under de Meo, who officially started his role as the group’s CEO on Monday.  While Bellettini’s rumoured appointment, at the time of this writing, has yet to be confirmed, de Meo has already made his first official hire. On Monday, he brought in Thomas Cuntz, a human resources specialist from Renault, where he had spent nine years overseeing global talent management, according to WWD. Cuntz now holds the newly created role of head of global talent development and people engagement at Kering. Further reading: After Gucci’s decline, what’s left to power Kering’s growth?