Co-CEOs of the Prada group, Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli are stepping down. The brand is now proposing former CEO of Luxottica and LVMH’s hospitality unit, Andrea Guerra, as the new Prada group CEO. Their flagship brand will be led by a new executive.
Miuccia Prada will remain the creative director of Prada and a member of the board, while Bertelli will become chairman. Paolo Zannoni, current chairman, will become executive deputy chairman. This will be the first time the Italian luxury company will bring in an outside chief executive officer. To reassure its investors, Prada is hiring senior executives to help with the brand’s transition. The board will officially ratify Guerra’s nomination in January 2023.
Miuccia Prada joined the family business, which dates back to 1913, in 1970. He has been instrumental in Prada’s resurgence. The Italian powerhouse has since fully established itself as one of the world’s most powerful fashion players. The family is preparing to name their successor in the coming year. They will hand over control of the brand to the family’s next generation. Bertelli indicated in November 2021 that Lorenzo Bertelli, who joined the group in 2017, is expected to take over the company within a few years.
Recently, the world’s biggest fashion and luxury goods houses seem to be thriving despite continuous inflation and economic problems affecting other industries. An analysis by Bain and Company showed that the global luxury goods market took a further leap forward in 2022, despite highly uncertain economic and consumer market conditions.
The world of luxury fashion, though it would seem to be immune to inflation, is currently experiencing internal instability. The fashion industry was jolted on September 28 when Burberry announced that Riccardo Tisci, its five-year CCO, would be replaced by Daniel Lee, a former creative director of Bottega Veneta. Fashion designer and Prada co-creative director Raf Simons announced the closure of his eponymous brand on November 22. Just two days later, Gucci creative director Alessandro Michele announced his resignation from the Italian luxury brand after seven years in charge.
With resignations, instability and controversies such that that involving Balenciaga, 2022 has been a rocky year for the fashion industry. As brands inevitably prepare to bounce back, we are yet to see how the new leadership will fair.
