Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** Kering’s new strategy under CEO de Meo blends “True Luxury” with “Next Luxury,” aiming for leadership through creativity, tech, and discipline. His rigorous work ethic—65-hour weeks, strict meetings—underscores a promise of certainty, not mere ambition.
The stated goal is to rebuild appeal, strengthen operational excellence, and return Kering to a trajectory of leadership in luxury, combining what the group calls True Luxury — creativity, savoir-faire, cultural relevance, product quality — with the Next Luxury, i.e., new technologies, new customer expectations, new markets, and new categories. “Not promises, but certainties,” de Meo began. And to understand his method, one need only look at his well-known work ethic, recently studied at Harvard: 65-hour work weeks, rigid meetings of no more than an hour, and an unassailable personal philosophy. “My trick has always been to become better at everything others might not expect from an Italian: more punctual than a German, more disciplined than a Japanese, more resistant to Maotai than a Chinese executive.”
The starting point is far from theoretical. Kering closed 2025 with €14.7 billion in revenue, according to the group’s official statement, but has lost momentum in recent years, especially due to the slowdown at Gucci, which still accounts for over 40% of the group’s sales. Vogue Business noted that first-quarter 2026 sales were flat and that Gucci recorded an 8% decline, missing expectations and weighing on the stock. De Meo’s response is an almost military sequence: reset by 2026, rebuild by 2028, reclaim by 2030. First, order is restored, then rebuilt, and finally, an attempt is made to reclaim the role of reference in the “Next Luxury.” Kering aims to more than double its recurring operating margin in the medium term from the 11% in 2025 and bring ROCE back above 20%. Translated: less dispersion, less inventory, fewer non-performing stores, more control over brands and categories that truly deliver.
The most interesting part of the plan, however, is not just the revival of fashion. It is that de Meo says, with actions before words, that luxury can no longer live solely on clothes, bags, and fashion shows. Fashion remains the center, but it is no longer the only engine. Where it doesn’t yield or scale, it is cut. Where it can generate margin and lasting value, investment is made. And where the wealthy client is already going — longevity and jewelry — Kering wants to be there.
Kering has understood that the global pool of liquidity is in the hands of an increasingly older demographic, willing to spend astronomical sums on two things. The first is jewelry, whose undisputed value is now amplified by soaring gold prices. Purchasing high jewelry has become the ultimate safe-haven asset, capable of bypassing the volatility of fashion seasons. Not coincidentally, de Meo announced that the newly formed Kering Jewelry division (which brings together Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin, and the acquired Raselli Franco manufacturing) is destined to double its revenue by 2030, starting from the current €1.2 billion. The second obsession of the super-rich is time, understood as the extension of life. This gives rise to the most aggressive financial operation in recent months: Kering sold its Beauty licenses to L’Oréal for €4 billion (a vital sum to reduce group debt from €10.5 billion to €8 billion), while retaining a 50/50 joint venture. The goal? “To explore opportunities at the intersection of luxury wellness and longevity,” the CEO explained. The group will invest in developing luxury clinics and urban longevity centers based on scientifically validated protocols. It will no longer just sell a bag, but an exclusive package of “youth.”
The move is far from reckless: according to McKinsey, the global consumer wellness market is worth $1.8 trillion annually, and the healthy aging/longevity category is one of the most significant growth areas, with about 70% of consumers in the US and UK and 85% in China reporting they have bought more in this category than in previous years. The Global Wellness Institute estimates that the entire global wellness economy reached $6.8 trillion in 2024 and could approach $10 trillion by 2029.
