Ganni CEO Laura du Rusquec has stepped down after two years at the helm, the brand has confirmed. The former Balenciaga deputy CEO joined the Danish premium brand two years ago, tasked with pushing Ganni upmarket following a period of hyper-growth. Her departure raises questions about the direction of the brand and its long-term elevation strategy, which she outlined shortly after her appointment in 2024.

“Laura du Rusquec has stepped down from her role of chief executive officer of Ganni, and will leave the company in April to pursue other opportunities,” the company confirmed to Vogue Business over email. “The entire Ganni organization extends its sincere gratitude for her commitment and contribution over the last two years, and wishes her every success for the future.” Retail exec and former Tom Dixon CEO Hans Hoegstedt has been appointed interim CEO, effective immediately.

Ganni was founded as a knitwear brand in 2000 by Copenhagen gallerist Frans Truelsen. In 2009, husband and wife duo Nicolaj and Ditte Reffstrup took it over, transforming the brand into a contemporary label with a loyal customer base. Ganni debuted at Copenhagen Fashion Week (CPHFW) in 2014 and showed there for a decade, becoming the crown jewel of the schedule and playing a key role in shaping the identity of Scandi fashion, with a positioning built on accessible prices, a strong focus on sustainability and inclusivity, and a playful sensibility.

In 2018, Ganni appointed Andrea Baldo as CEO, taking over from Nicolaj, and helped scale the label into an international business, growing its retail network and sharpening its brand identity. The “Ganni girl” became a style archetype across the world, known for bold prints, playful silhouettes, and high-low styling. Then, in 2024, Baldo departed for Mulberry and du Rusquec was appointed as successor.

As a privately held company, Ganni’s sales performance is not publicly disclosed. Vogue Business contacted the brand for comment on its revenue, growth, and future strategy, including whether it will continue to show in Paris, but it declined to comment. When Vogue Business interviewed du Rusquec in March 2025, Ganni boasted 650 stockists, 62 stores, and 605 employees worldwide. Today, Ganni has 50 more stockists and 23 additional stores, but its workforce has shrunk to 453, the company confirmed. And du Rusquec’s quiet exit, without a media announcement or permanent replacement, adds to the uncertainty around the brand’s direction.

Was elevation the right move?

Du Rusquec — who spent 15 years at Kering — led Ganni’s shift toward what she described as “progressive luxury”. “It’s a luxury that is authentic. It’s a matter of providing a great product with great values behind it, with a sentiment of community and inclusivity,” du Rusquec told attendees at a Vogue Business event in Paris in June 2024. “Elevation will go with a better product in terms of quality and all the research and development that has been worked on to find new fabrics, new materials that are more sustainable, and so on. So that will, naturally, potentially increase the prices, but that will come with quality.”

In 2024, The Guardian reported Ganni’s prices ranged from £115 for a T-shirt to £195 for a dress. Now, T-shirts on the Ganni website range from £110 to £310. Other entry-level prices appear broadly consistent, but more of Ganni’s product sits at a higher price point than before (and the most expensive dress available on its UK website costs £940), suggesting a shift in the overall price architecture and positioning.

In line with that shift, Ganni quit CPHFW and began showing at Paris Fashion Week from September 2024. “Paris remains at the top of the status pyramid, and relocating from somewhere else to Paris is seen as a step up. But Paris — and an elevated positioning — doesn’t make sense for everyone,” says Vogue senior archive editor Laird Borrelli-Persson, who has been covering Copenhagen Fashion Week since its early days. It was immediately clear that Paris would be a bigger pond: Ganni’s show slot was right after Dior, causing some editors and buyers to miss the Danish brand’s debut.

The following show for Fall/Winter 2025 was “one of Ganni’s best ever”, thematically and product-wise, says Borrelli-Persson. “It was more polished but still recognizably on-brand.” Over the past two seasons, Ganni has shifted to a presentation format, which sparked rumors that there was trouble behind the scenes, she says.

The timing for Ganni’s push upmarket was perhaps unfortunate. In the past two years, consumers have become more sensitive to price and value, reassessing what they expect at different price points. While Ganni’s elevation strategy seems to have targeted a grown-up millennial Ganni girl, this cohort is also facing a cost of living squeeze, which is limiting its spending power. There’s also a perception that the product has shifted in a way that doesn’t align with this customer’s needs. “A lot of clients have outgrown [or] fallen out of love with the brand,” says Paolo Casseb, a 39-year-old stylist and personal shopper, who worked with Ganni at Selfridges and Browns and was a customer during the brand’s heyday. “For that price point, they’d want something less trend-based, or a different brand altogether.”

Beyond the core millennial customer, Ganni’s elevated positioning may have also affected its resonance with all-important Gen Z consumers looking ahead. In a survey of 750 Gen Zs by youth culture agency Archrival, just 29% say they’d be willing to pay more for a luxury brand, while only 54% see luxury brands as “desirable”. Ganni has historically occupied a clearly accessible contemporary positioning, but its elevation strategy has nudged it upward without fully redefining what the brand stands for. This has left it in a more ambiguous middle ground, while a wave of affordable brands like Reformation and Damson Madder are increasingly capturing the customer Ganni once owned.

I took to Instagram to ask long-time Ganni customers about the brand’s direction. Many pointed to rising prices as a key issue and expressed skepticism around perceived value, with some saying they now wait for discounts, buy secondhand, or have turned to the swathe of lower-priced competitors.

Some described a shift away from the brand’s earlier identity. “Before, it felt more fun and unique; now, it’s more clean and commercial. It feels like it has grown up to be liked by everyone,” says one long-time customer.

Brands like Ganni have historically been able to capitalize on the growing desire for good design at accessible prices. Borrelli-Persson describes that not just as a marketing strategy, but as “part of the cultural ethos” in Scandinavia. She adds that the “seemingly omnipresent desire for everything to be high-end” is unsustainable as the industry and pop culture “encourage desire for fashion at the same time that it becomes out of reach”.

What’s next?

This all points to a broader lesson for brands navigating today’s market. Elevation can be tricky to pull off; it depends on whether a brand’s equity, product, and customer base can credibly stretch upward. At a time when consumers are pushing back on luxury pricing and seeking stronger value, the middle market is proving more resilient than expected. Elevation can work, but only if there’s a clear reason to do so.

What’s next for Ganni hinges on how closely the brand realigns with its core customer. On Friday, the brand sent a survey to customers offering a 15% discount in exchange for feedback on why their shopping frequency has changed; how well attributes like “joyful”, “accessible”, and “community-driven” apply today; how they feel Ganni has evolved over the past two to three years; and how they would describe the brand’s value for money. The move suggests it is in listening mode at a time when customers are signaling a shift in perception.

From an industry perspective, a return to CPHFW could also help reanchor the brand. Borrelli-Persson says such a move would be “a triumphant one”, helping to restore Ganni within the cultural context that defined its early success.

“To break through the noise and to register in the attention economy, companies need to lead, and having a clear brand identity is a key component to building trust,” she says. “My sense is that people just want Ganni to be Ganni.”