Luca de Meo is embarking on “ReconKering”, a new strategy that the Kering CEO outlined to around 200 analysts and reporters at Stazione Leopolda in Florence on Thursday, at Kering’s Capital Markets Day. The marathon presentation stretched three and a half hours, followed by a 45-minute Q&A session with analysts. “I can do the Teatro alla Scala in Milan next,” de Meo joked during a brief lunch break, before returning for another 50-minute Q&A with the press.

ReconKering is designed to reposition the group “as the indisputable challenger in luxury”, de Meo said. The 58-year-old Italian executive, who joined Kering on September 15, 2025 from Renault, is not afraid of a challenge. At the automaker, he led an ambitious turnaround plan called: “Renaulution”, launched in 2021.

“ Five, six, or seven years ago, Kering was the number two luxury group in a very good dynamic,” de Meo said. “And I think being a challenger is a good position for us to be. I’ve always done that in my own life. It’s actually more fun because when you’re a leader, you’re just defending the position. When you are a challenger, you need to be faster, more agile, more innovative. You need to see trajectories that others don’t see.”

As part of the new strategy, the chief executive announced the plan to more than double Kering’s recurring operating margin in the mid-term (around 2030), increasing it from 11% in 2025. He also expects the company to gradually outperform the market in terms of sales growth over the same period.

The stakes are high: after decades of growth, Kering’s sales decelerated in recent years, with its largest brand Gucci significantly underperforming competitors and the group becoming deeply indebted. Most recently, Kering reported flat sales in Q1, including a 8% drop at Gucci, missing expectations and sending the Kering share down sharply on Wednesday.

Before his presentation, de Meo took the time to recognize the CEOs and creative directors of Kering’s houses — including Gucci’s Francesca Bellettini and Demna, Saint Laurent’s Cédric Charbit and Anthony Vaccarello, Bottega Veneta’s Louise Trotter (a new CEO for Bottega Veneta has yet to be named; an appointment is expected “in the next months or weeks”, de Meo said), Balenciaga’s Gianfranco Gianangeli and Pierpaolo Piccioli, McQueen’s Gianfilippo Testa, Boucheron’s Hélène Poulit-Duquesne and Claire Choisne. He invited them to join him on-stage “to present the people who will be leading its execution in the next years”. Kering chair and former CEO François-Henri Pinault sat front row.

While Thursday marked the official unveiling of de Meo’s holistic business strategy for Kering, his first seven months on the job have not been spent biding time. Already, de Meo postponed plans for Kering to fully acquire Valentino, sold Kering’s beauty business to L’Oréal Group, reshuffled the leadership team, hired talents from the automotive and other industries, and created a new Kering jewelry entity. Holding a Capital Markets Day in Florence, Gucci’s home city, was on his mind since day one. Kering’s last Capital Markets Day was held in 2022 in Paris, albeit at a smaller scale.

Decoding “ReconKering”

De Meo’s new strategy is centered around establishing a “streamlined group platform”, structured with five “hubs” rooted in industry, client, technology, sustainability, and support functions. “It is not a question of centralization. It’s a rebalance,” he said.

The plan involves restoring a healthier balance sheet by reducing the debt, which went from €10.5 billion at the end of 2024 to €8 billion at the end in 2025. It’s further reduced today with the closing of the L’Oréal deal, worth €4 billion, and the sale of real estate on Montenapoleone in Milan worth €700 million.

There are also store network rationalisations. After closing 75 of its more than 1,700 stores in 2025, the group plans to close at least another 100 in 2026.

De Meo emphasized that the luxury industry has entered a phase of reset. “Since 2023, the market has been flat to slightly negative,” he said. “China contracted by around 20% over the same period, and the rebound has not yet materialized.  In this context, Kering has been more severely impacted than most of its peers.”

Kering retail sales in Asia-Pacific tumbled 16% in 2025. Greater China is a priority.  For Kering, this means “a double-digit increase in marketing and commercial activation budget for the houses in China, to accelerate awareness, quality, reach, and conversion”. The group plans to sharpen its offer to better align with local tastes, and rightsize its retail footprint in China, with around 130 net closures by 2030, as it prioritizes high-potential locations.

De Meo also announced during the presentation that Kering took a minority investment in Chinese brand Icicle. “Our investment in Icicle is also about feeling more at home in China, and having friends there who can help us understand what is going on, opening doors into the Chinese ecosystem,” de Meo said. “This is very important. I come from the automotive industry, and I know what it means to neglect the innovation power of China.”

Another priority, according to de Meo, is the new-growth relay markets, namely Southeast Asia, India, the UAE and Saudi Arabia, Africa starting with Nigeria, Brazil, and Mexico. “There’s an opportunity for the group to play a catalytic role in these markets particularly where scale will take time to build,” he said.

He also talked about jewelry, a category he sees doubling by 2030 from €1.2 billion today, led by its four maisons Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo and Qeelin, as well as the development of jewelry at Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Bottega Veneta.

As for its fashion houses, de Meo went on to review strategies brand by brand, and spoke to the future of the beauty category.

Gucci

“As an Italian native, it’s very easy for me to understand that Gucci is more than a brand. It’s one of the most admired expressions of the culture of this country,” de Meo said. “ Gucci is not vanilla ice cream. It’s spicy, sometimes bitter, sometimes super sweet, and that is what makes it totally unique.”

Gucci represents over 40% of the group’s sales, and the focus is all about rebuilding its desirability. “Gucci remains in the top five in desirability worldwide, down from number one a few years ago. That is the place we want to reclaim,” de Meo said. Gucci has reduced its number of SKUs by 20%. “It’s a concrete step that simplifies the offer and reinforces clarity, coherence, and impact across all.”

He said the ambition is to deliver more than €1 billion in additional revenue across leather goods by 2030, “powered by a more distinctive, iconic offer”, and more than €600 million in ready-to-wear and shoes. “We are rebuilding the silhouette, of course, with Demna and the team with a stronger stylistic intent, improving proportions and construction, bringing back recognizability in every piece.  In menswear, we are constructing a modern wardrobe anchored in refined essentials.” In shoes, it’s by “refreshing iconic shapes”. He also sees an opportunity to create an additional €500 million in jewelry and watches. For the latter, Gucci will consolidate its proposition with a particular emphasis on the €3,000 women’s jewelry watch segment.

“China is, for Gucci, the country where more than anywhere else we need to restore brand desirability,” Bellettini told analysts. She noted that the communication around Demna’s debut collection, La Famiglia, was adapted to the China market. “China is a market where some new products perform really well. The Borsetto handbag in black leather, for example, is showing very promising signs.”

Gucci has also shortened its development and production cycle, albeit in limited runs. “On the day of the Gucci [Primavera] show, there were already 77 products from the runway that were available immediately online and in selected boutiques,” de Meo explained. “This is what we call the see-now-buy-now [model], which is part of the work that we are doing on the industrial [side], and of course will scale.”

Saint Laurent

Saint Laurent’s ambition is to double business in Asia by 2030, which means doubling marketing investment in the region. It also plans to stage a show in China in the coming months. “It is true that the brand is a bit Western-centric,” Saint Laurent CEO Charbit said during the Q&A session with analysts. “It is about doing a catch-up, and we need to do this fast.” The brand will also roll out its new retail concept to over a third of its stores in Asia-Pacific within the next 12 months, versus less than 20% today.

Saint Laurent will increase its focus on leather goods. The ambition is to increase women’s handbags by 40% by 2030, with the “icon” products, like the Mombasa, expected to represent around 30% of brand revenue in 2030. The bag, originally introduced by Tom Ford in 2002, was relaunched earlier this year. “It’s already among the top five bestselling lines in the house’s flagship stores,” Charbit said. (One of the industry’s top handbag designers, Johnny Coca, recently joined the brand.) Saint Laurent also intends to more than double its men’s segment by 2030, thanks to addition of a pre-collection.

Bottega Veneta

At Bottega Veneta, “the next chapter is about scaling without compromising its essence”.

This means increasing the visibility of the brand and therefore marketing expenses notably in China. “We are accelerating the pace, a higher number of shows, and high-impact global events,” he said. The plan is to more than double non-leather good revenues by 2030, including by reinforcing costume and fine jewelry, as well as “a distinctive  gifting and art of living proposition”.

Balenciaga

“Balenciaga is one of the brands that better understands the vibes of the new generation,” de Meo said, noting that Gen Z will account for 25% of the overall luxury sector by 2030, up from 15% today.

As leather goods continue to become Balenciaga’s most powerful growth engine (led by its Rodeo and City bags), the goal is to further accelerate the leather goods business by 2030. The house also plans to double women’s ready-to-wear by 2030, alongside its American business.

McQueen

McQueen is in the midst of a restructuring involving job cuts. De Meo spoke about a go-forward strategy that includes a more disciplined assortment with women’s ready-to-wear at the core, 50% less stores by the end of 2026 (compared with the end of 2025), rightsizing all functions, and maximizing synergies with the group.

Beauty: Developing urban longevity centers with L’Oréal

On March 31, Kering completed the sale of its beauty business to L’Oréal. The deal involved high-end heritage fragrance house Creed, a license agreement for Gucci (commencing after expiration of the current license with Coty), Bottega Veneta, and Balenciaga. “ This partnership gives us immediate access to the world’s most advanced beauty platform in research and development, in manufacturing, in global distribution, as well as an unmatched media reach because of their investment... So as a result, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, and later Gucci, will reach their full beauty potential with a far greater speed,” de Meo said.

He called Yves Saint Laurent Beauté, which has been under the stewardship of L’Oréal for years and is generating €3 billion in annual revenues, the “clearest demonstration” of the potential.  “For a brand with the Gucci equity, the long-term opportunity is very meaningful,” he said.

The deal with L’Oréal also includes a 50-50 joint venture to “explore the opportunities at the crossroads of luxury wellness and longevity”. De Meo offered more details about what it will entail. They will develop “urban and destination-based centers built on safe, scientifically validated, and proven protocols”, and will leverage “L’Oréal's expertise in beauty and Kering’s know-how in delivering luxury experiences”.

“This is a true win-win partnership,” L’Oréal CEO Nicolas Hieronimus said via video from Paris.

House of Wonders: Placing a small bet on brands adjacent to Kering’s core

To be clear, M&A is not on the table for Kering. “ Our priorities are first and foremost to invest in the development of our houses,” de Meo said. However, the group will selectively back and scale emerging brands that are adjacent to its core business. This initiative, dubbed House of Wonders and spearheaded by Kering’s chief strategy and development officer Joel Hazan, was launched alongside the group’s investment in Icicle.

Speaking of the rationale behind House of Wonders, de Meo said:  “To be a challenger, you need to leave room for mistakes — but in a controlled way. You don’t bet the whole house on it; instead, you define a perimeter that’s large enough to give yourself a chance to invest in brands in new geographies or new categories. If we’re lucky, we might find a unicorn — but this is not venture capital. It’s more like an escape valve for us, a way to bring a bit of oxygen into the organization.”

De Meo concluded: “Now, the most important part of the story comes, which is execution. We are all united, all convinced. That won’t be the first turnaround in my career, but I hope that will be my best one.”