The biggest industry news this week was Thursday’s announcement that Matthieu Blazy will take up the creative director post at Chanel. The confirmation from Chanel on Thursdays, which brings an end to months of intense speculation from fashion media outlets, followed closely from an announcement that Blazy would leave the top creative job at Bottega Veneta. 40-year-old Blazy will be oversee for all haute couture, ready-to-wear, and accessories collections (a total of 10 collections per year) and will report to Chanel SAS president Bruno Pavlovsky.
For us, one of the interesting elements here is the contract angle, namely, what Blazy’s contract with Chanel looks like what the term of his noncompete with Bottega are. In terms of the former, WWD reports that like longtime Chanel creative director Karl Lagerfeld, Blazy has signed “a renewable contract for his services.” While Pavlovsky did not give a duration for the initial term, he said Blazy “will have two years to find his bearings at Chanel.”
As for the transition from Kering-owned Bottega Veneta to Chanel, Blazy is slated to start at Chanel in the first half of 2025, most likely in April, and make his runway debut in October 2025 as part of the spring/summer 2026 presentations in Paris. The apparent 4-month lag is, of course, due to a noncompete clause in his employment agreement with Bottega. Given that European noncompetes can last up to 12 months but more commonly 6 months, Chanel may have bought out at least part of the term in order to get Blazy on board sooner.
Chanel certainly can afford it. The privately-held, London-headquartered company saw revenues grow by 16 percent year-over-year to $19.7 billion in 2023.
Meanwhile, former Carven creative director Louise Trotter will take over for Blazy at Bottega Veneta. She will join the brand at the end of 2025.
Rebag unveiled the fifth edition of its Clair Report this week, which sees it “leverage the power of Clair, its proprietary Comprehensive Luxury Appraisal Index for Resale,” to provide insights into “brand value, investment-worthy styles, and demand shifts across the luxury resale market.” Using proprietary data from its Clair tool, Rebag calculated the “average value retention” for leading luxury brands, with Goyard overtaking Hermès for the first time, with both brands posting impressive retention rates of 104% and 100%, respectively.
Meanwhile, Rebag states that Chanel and Louis Vuitton both “made notable gains,” rising by 11 and 7 percentage points, respectively, and entering the “unicorn” category for the first time with value retention rates of 85% or higher. “Remarkably, every other brand analyzed this year showed increased value retention,” per Rebag, “with several accessibly priced handbag brands seeing standout double-digit growth,” signaling “exciting investment opportunities across both heritage and more attainable brands.”
Rebag highlighted a few other standout findings …
> Celine saw a “remarkable 16% increase in average value retention, and Prada experienced a 13% surge, with the Re-Edition 2000 Hobo seeing a remarkable 109% retention;
> Miu Miu saw a 13% increase in average value retention in 2024, tying with sister label Prada for the third-largest rise.
> In 2024, The Row saw a 14% increase in value retention, rising to 73%, fueled by its emphasis on quality, craftsmanship, and timeless design.
> The Hermès Sellier Birkin emerged as 2024’s standout investment piece, boasting a remarkable 250% value retention—a 52% year-over-year increase from 198% in 2023, the highest gain of the year, surpassing the second-place Hermès Kelly Mini II at 150% value retention.
> In 2024, the Louis Vuitton Neverfull Tote maintained its resale dominance, achieving a
158% average value retention – a 22% increase from 2023. As noted in last year’s Clair report, the label’s 2023 decision to introduce a waitlist for the iconic style sparked renewed exclusivity that has persisted.
On the watches and jewelry front, Rebag says that Van Cleef & Arpels and Rolex led the pack with 103% and 100% value retention, respectively. “In a noteworthy shift, Van Cleef & Arpels claimed the top spot for the first time in 2024, fueled by skyrocketing demand for its iconic Alhambra collection and the growing scarcity of luxury pieces, driving up both appeal and resale value.” Meanwhile, LVMH-owned Tiffany & Co. was another top performer in 2024, with its value retention rising to 58%, an 8% increase from the previous year.
> Shein’s impending IPO is at a standstill as a result of a challenge from an advocacy group for China’s Uyghur population, as well as Britain’s Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. Reuters reported this week that “Britain’s financial regulator is taking longer than usual to approve fast-fashion retailer Shein’s IPO because it is checking its supply chain oversight and assessing legal risks” as a result of pushback from Stop Uyghur Genocide and the Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner.
Shein said in response to the challenges that it has “a zero-tolerance policy for forced labor and is committed to respecting human rights.”
> Klarna has been fined over $45 million by a Swedish financial regulator after it ran afoul of anti-money laundering rules. Sweden’s Financial Supervisory (Authority Finansinspektionen) said this week that the Buy Now-Pay Later giant was in breach of several rules. In particular, it said that the company has had “significant deficiencies” in its risk assessment policies/procedures, including those meant to assess how its products and services could be used for money laundering or terrorist financing. The Financial Supervisory’s investigation into Stockholm-headquartered Klarna ran from April 1, 2021 to March 31, 2022.
“It is important to emphasize that the decision concerns rule interpretation and application and not actual cases of money laundering,” a Klarna spokesman stated. “We have had a constructive dialogue since the investigation began … and see this as an important part of the joint work for a secure financial sector.”
The news of the probe follows from Klarna’s confidential filing of pre-IPO documentation with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in November. Analysts have recently valued the almost-20-year-old BNPL company at about $14.6 billion.
> Nike is the subject of a competition-centric probe in Romania, with cooperating authorities in the Netherlands and Romania reportedly raiding the headquarters of Nike European Operations Netherlands BV and the headquarters of Nike distributor Sport Time Trad SRL and Sport Vision Trading SRL in Romania. According to a report from Romania’s competition regulator (Consiliul Concurenței România), Nike European Operations Netherlands BV may have colluded with Sport Time Trad SRL and Sport Vision Trading SRL to restrict the retailers that could sell Nike wares in violation of Romanian Competition Law.
If this sounds familiar, that may be because the European Commission recently levied a 5.7 million euros ($6 million) fine on Pierre Cardin and its licensee Ahlers for breaching EU antitrust law by restricting cross-border sales of Pierre Cardin-licensed clothing.
> Still yet, Kering is negotiating with the Italian tax authorities to settle a tax probe stemming from its Alexander McQueen brand. Prosecutors in Florence “began investigating Alexander McQueen for omitted tax declarations for the years 2016 to 2022 after the Guardia di Finanza police alleged that Alexander McQueen failed to declare some 60-70 million euros ($63-$74 million) in taxable income,” per Reuters. The brand’s revenues were processed through Kering’s Swiss-based subsidiary Luxury Goods International, enabling it to avoid taxes in Italy.
Hardly Kering’s first rodeo: The French luxury goods group previously settled cases with the Italian tax authorities in connection with Gucci, paying 1.25 billion euros in back taxes, interested, and fines in 2019, and Bottega Veneta, for which it paid 187 million euros in 2022. The company has also faced financial probes in France stemming from tax avoidance allegations.
“The company and the Kering group are confident of the correctness of their operations and are pursuing these discussions in a spirit of constructive dialogue,” a Kering spokesman stated.