«Kering’s love story with Italy began 20 years ago and in the Kering group there are Italian brands (such as Gucci and Bottega Veneta, ed) with the highest level of craftsmanship. We have also inaugurated industrial hubs for our non-Italian brands – such as Saint Laurent and Balenciaga – because Italy is the only place where you can find a certain type of skills and know-how: that’s why we continue to invest here ». It is a declaration of love for Made in Italy that François-Henri Pinault, president and CEO of the Kering Group, made at the inauguration event of the new Kering offices in Milan, in via Senato.
A structure on the edge of the Quadrilateral that brings the French group back – geographically, because conceptually it has never strayed – to the center of the luxury district: «You all know how important Italy, and especially Milan, is for Kering and how much we are committed to supporting the Italian territory and its future”, said Pinault – mentioning the recent donation to the flooded Emilian territories – in the opening words of his speech in front of an audience of important stakeholders, by the presidents of CNMI Carlo Capasa and Altagamma Matteo Lunelli to Mayor Beppe Sala.
The “new Kering home in Milan”, as the French entrepreneur defined it, is located in the former Palazzo Pertusati Gropallo, designed in the 18th century by the architect Simone Cantoni and considered a model of the neoclassical style, and is the most recent investment by the group of 20.4 billion euros (revenues 2022) which, in addition to having Italian brands such as Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Richard Ginori and Brioni in its belly, has 13 thousand of its total 47 thousand employees in the area. After the opening, in 2016, of the Gucci Hub – an area of 35 thousand square meters in the Mecenate area, in Milan, completely renovated to become the headquarters of the group’s fashion houses, and also the location for the fashion show – the logistics hub was inaugurated in 2021 in Trecate (No), which covers over 162,000 square meters.
The mayor of Milan, Beppe Sala, was also present at the inauguration: «Milan has many qualities which, put together, create attractiveness: we are the city of style and food, but also a university city. The thread that links all these different fields is internationality. If we continue to be able to give value to our history, we will have created a truly unique mix».