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Kering Names Mélanie Flouquet As General Secretary
Kering is making key leadership changes as part of an effort to strengthen its executive team. The French luxury group promotes Mélanie Flouquet from Chief Strategy Officer to General Secretary. Strategy and development will now fall under Joël Hazan.
Mélanie Flouquet, who has led Kering’s strategy since 2021, will be promoted to General Secretary, effective March 1, 2025 — a newly created position that will “strengthen Kering’s governance and risk management globally,” the group said in a statement.
A graduate of EM Lyon and a Chartered Accountant in the United Kingdom, Mélanie Flouquet worked at JP Morgan for twenty years where she was Managing Director leading the Luxury Goods Equity Research team. Flouquet joined Kering in May 2021 Chief Strategy Officer. In her new role, she will report to Jean-Marc Duplaix, Kering’s deputy chief executive officer and chief operating officer.
Joël Hazan, with twenty years experience in luxury fashion consulting at Boston Consulting Group, will succeed Flouquet as Chief Strategy and Development Officer. He is expected to assume his position on March 1 as well and report to Francesca Bellettini, Kering’s deputy CEO in charge of brand development. His appointment aims to strengthen operational support for Kering’s fashion houses, enhance efficiency, and drive commercial growth.
The appointments come amid a period of restructuring within the group, as Kering aspires to bolster its operational efficiency and navigate the volatile market dynamics. The luxury conglomerate is making strategic shifts to boost the performance of its brands, particularly flagship Gucci, whose creative director Sabato De Sarno left earlier this month.
The way ahead for Kering
Global luxury group Kering manages the development of iconic Houses in Fashion, Leather Goods and Jewellery — Gucci, Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, Alexander McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo, Qeelin and Ginori 1735 — as well as Kering Eyewear and Kering Beauté.
Kering’s revenue amounted to €17.2 billion in 2024, down 12 percent both as reported and on a comparable basis. Sales from the directly operated retail network, including e-commerce, fell 13 percent on a comparable basis, affected by lower store traffic in adverse market conditions. However, the luxury conglomerate is confident about its stabilisation. In an economic and geopolitical environment that remains uncertain, Kering continues to deploy its strategy with the aim of achieving a profitable growth trajectory.
“In a difficult year, we accelerated the transformation of several of our Houses and moved determinedly to strengthen the health and desirability of our brands for the long term” says François-Henri Pinault, Chairman and CEO, Kering.
“Across the Group, and at Gucci first and foremost, we made critical decisions to raise the impact of our communications, sharpen our product strategies, and heighten the quality of our distribution… We secured our organisation, made key hirings, sped up execution and intensified the efficiency of our operations… we are confident that we have driven Kering to a point of stabilisation, from which we will gradually resume our growth trajectory.”
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Jasmeen Dugal
Jasmeen Dugal is Associate Editor at FashionABC, contributing her insights on fashion, technology, and sustainability. She brings with herself more than two decades of editorial experience, working for national newspapers and luxury magazines in India.
Jasmeen Dugal has worked with exchange4media as a senior writer contributing articles on the country's advertising and marketing movements, and then with Condenast India as Net Editor where she helmed Vogue India’s official website in terms of design, layout and daily content. Besides this, she is also an entrepreneur running her own luxury portal, Explosivefashion, which highlights the latest in luxury fashion and hospitality.
