Millennials have taken luxury brand Gucci on a fast-track ride to major success.
The only thing hotter than Gucci right now, are millennials. Gucci’s CEO Marco Bizzarri admitted to as much when he revealed the company often consults with what is being dubbed a ‘shadow committee’ of under-30 cool kids.
During WWD’s Apparel & Retail CEO Summit in New York last week, Bizzarri revealed that he regularly taps ‘a committee that is structured with people below the age of 30.’
“The task is either discussing the same topics that we discuss in the normal meeting with executives, or giving me ideas on different processes.”
Harvesting the younger crowd’s opinions is obviously working its magic. The brand’s sales have swelled enormously over the past year (sales in this year’s third quarter are up 49%), and it’s the younger consumers giving Gucci the boost. A massive 55% of sales are now made to people under 35.
There’s no doubt that Gucci has upped its fashion credentials over the last two years, with bold new creative director, Alessandro Michele, at the helm. His maximalist aesthetic is trimming cool kids and red carpet go-ers everywhere. It seems everyone wants a piece of the ‘new Gucci.’
But while space-age themes, memes and sparkling snakes might have seduced the coveted demographic that is the millennials and got the Italian fashion house back on the rise, it certainly looks like Gucci’s mastered the trick to beat all else up its sleeve: actually working with them.
