PARIS — Is the talent pool in fashion and luxury too shallow?
Apparently so, as the search to find Domenico De Sole’s successor as Gucci Group’s president and chief executive officer has widened to encompass candidates in such disparate industries as retail, fast-moving consumer goods, investment banking and even food and beverages.
According to sources, Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, which controls Gucci Group, has been looking far beyond the “usual suspects” in the find its new leader after De Sole exits the group in April, along with group creative director Tom Ford.
And with the creative vacancies all but wrapped up — Alexander McQueen is considered the front-runner for Yves Saint Laurent, while YSL’s Stefano Pilati is expected to head the design team at Gucci — industry attention is turning to the De Sole slot.
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“Right from the beginning, the search was broad,” said one source familiar with the process. “The net was cast wide and not restricted to luxury.”
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The identities of any possible finalists could not be learned, but sources said companies on the search committee’s hit list include Proctor & Gamble, L’Oréal and possibly even PepsiCo.
And there’s also one name closer to luxury goods that won’t disappear from the continued rumor mill — that of Vittorio Radice, former ceo of British department store Selfridges and now executive director of Marks & Spencer home. Inside Gucci his name is still frequently uttered. Many consider him PPR’s top choice and best bet, given his Italian roots and international experience in luxury and retailing.
Radice is best known for transforming dusty Selfridges into a glittering beacon of luxury goods and retail theater. But some wonder if Radice, who received an estimated $1.9 million “golden hello” to join M&S in 2002, would exit so soon.
Although said to be experiencing adjustment problems within the bureaucratic Marks & Spencer organization, Radice is believed to be committed to staying with the British retail giant to see his project through fruition. His first Life store — which brings his sense of retail theater to furniture and other products for the home — is slated to bow later this month in Gateshead, Newcastle.
Radice could not immediately be reached for comment, but has denied interest in the position in recent weeks.
The committee to find De Sole’s successor consists of Artemis chairman François-Henri Pinault, PPR chief executive Serge Weinberg and Adrian Bellamy, a member of Gucci Group’s supervisory board.
The three men have declined all comment on the search process, vowing to name successors to De Sole and Ford only after Ford has shown his last collection for Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche on March 7 during Paris Fashion Week.
A PPR spokesman said Friday that Weinberg has indicated he was open to looking at candidates outside of luxury goods, but declined further comment.
Meanwhile, speculation is intensifying in Europe that De Sole’s successor could come not only from outside the company — Giacomo Santucci, president and managing director, has been considered a possible internal candidate — but the luxury industry as well.
Sources said PPR considers the group ceo as a key financial and strategic role that would leave the brand heads substantial free reign on the operations side.
Many cited LVMH’s group managing director Antonio Belloni, who joined the French luxury giant from Procter & Gamble’s European operations in 2001, as the kind of executive with the skill set and profile PPR needs to guide Gucci Group’s various businesses, which range from YSL Beaute and Bottega Veneta to emerging brands like Stella McCartney and Balenciaga. There is no evidence that Belloni has been approached about the Gucci job and, even if he had been, his contract would no doubt restrict him from joining the rival house.
“They do not want to find someone with the character and profile of De Sole,” said one source. “It would be more someone who could represent the company on the market and manage the group more like a holding company.”
Another source also described a more fragmented top management, with the De Sole slot less operational and more a “coordinator of heads of divisions,” lending credence to the nonluxury background theory.
Bellamy, for one, “does not believe you need a fashion retailer to run a fashion company,” said another source familiar with the process.
A member of Gucci’s supervisory board since 1995, Bellamy, aged 61, also has an executive role at Body Shop and sits on the boards of The Gap, wine maker Robert Mondavi and homewares retailer Williams-Sonoma. Recently he also became chairman of the British-based Reckitt Benckiser, the maker of household products such as Lysol and Lime-Away.
Bellamy played a key role in luring Paul Pressler from Walt Disney Co. to become ceo of Gap Inc., replacing Millard Drexler. Pressler has since replaced several key executives at Gap with former colleagues from Disney.
When De Sole and Ford announced they would exit Gucci Group last November, speculation immediately centered on the likes of Burberry chief Rose Marie Bravo; Radice; Louis Vuitton honcho Yves Carcelle and Alain Dominique Perrin, who is stepping down as ceo of Compagnie Financiere Richemont S.A.
But one after another of those candidates ruled themselves out of the running — Bravo publicly said she was staying at Burberry, an M&S spokesman said Radice wasn’t interested, Carcelle also was said not to want to leave LVMH and Perrin preferred to retire rather than take on a challenging role like Gucci.
Then the rumor mill went oddly silent about potential successors to De Sole, suggesting PPR is focusing its efforts in other sectors far beyond fashion.
Another source stressed that PPR does not want De Sole’s successor to be a “brand manager.”
“Domenico was deeply involved in the brands and had strong personal relationships with all the designers,” the source said. “Instead, they want someone to manage the companies, more of a corporate manager.”
To be sure, the PPR search is being done on an international scale, encompassing the U.S., France, Italy, the U.K. and Ireland. Two recruitment firms are advising the selection committee: New York-based Russell Reynolds in the U.S. and Jouve and Associates for Europe.
— With contributions from Luisa Zargani, Milan