Key Takeaways from Kering’s Annual General Meeting

Reported by Vogue.

Kering's annual general meeting this week was less boardroom formality and more a window into how new CEO Luca de Meo — formerly of Renault — is rebuilding one of fashion's most powerful conglomerates from the inside out. Nine months into the job, he arrived with a strategy, a sense of humor, and apparently, a fanbase: the meeting ended with young shareholders lining up for selfies. Chair François-Henri Pinault's take? "One share, selfie with Luca; two shares, with me." According to Vogue, shareholders left largely convinced.

The loudest conversation centered on Gucci. The house has been underperforming for years, and the pressure on CEO Francesca Bellettini and new artistic director Demna is real — his first collection dropped in September 2025, first show in February 2026. But de Meo is backing the duo hard, calling them "one of the most experienced in the industry." The May 17 resort 2027 show in Times Square — where Paris Hilton, Tom Brady, and Cindy Crawford walked amid the billboards and noise — seemed to shift something. "Before you can do something great, you need to have the ambition to do it," de Meo said. He's waiting on the data, but the optimism reads as genuine.

Stores, Smart Glasses, and a Formula One Grid Spot

Kering's "ReconKering" plan includes refurbishing roughly two-thirds of its stores across all brands by 2030 — a higher proportion at Gucci specifically. The brand is also trimming its retail footprint from 600 stores to around 420, with roughly 120 functioning as true flagships. Those will feature dedicated jewelry spaces, a category Kering is deliberately accelerating. De Meo's vision for the in-store experience is specific: "A Gucci store should be like the Italian embassy in any city — you walk in and feel like you're in Italy." The upcoming Paris flagship on rue de Castiglione will be the proof of concept.

On the tech side, Kering Eyewear — which generated €1.6 billion in 2025 — is betting on smart glasses via a 2025 partnership with Google on AI-powered eyewear. De Meo was careful with forecasts but clear on the opportunity: unlike phones, glasses are personal, aesthetic, identity-driven. With around fifteen brands in its portfolio, Kering's argument is that it can do what a single product never could. Meanwhile, the just-announced Gucci Racing Alpine Formula One Team partnership — effective 2027, across 24 Grand Prix races — gives the brand a global activation platform in markets where it already has stores. With LVMH locked into F1 via Louis Vuitton and Tag Heuer, the track is becoming luxury's newest runway.

Kering is playing a long game — and de Meo knows exactly which moves matter most.

Read the original at Vogue.