At its Capital Markets Day in Florence, Kering unveiled ReconKering, a comprehensive strategic plan aimed at restoring the Group’s position at the forefront of global luxury. Anchored in two defining concepts, True Luxury and Next Luxury, the strategy maps a disciplined path back to desirability, growth and long-term value creation across a portfolio that generated revenue of €14.7 billion and employed 44,000 people in 2025.
Kering gathered investors and analysts in Florence this month to present what it is calling ReconKering, the most significant strategic undertaking the Group has embarked upon in recent years. The plan is structured around restoring clarity across its Houses, tightening operational discipline and positioning the Group as a credible challenger in an industry that is itself undergoing considerable change.
The strategy draws a clear line between two ambitions: True Luxury, which the Group defines through creativity, craftsmanship, cultural relevance and product quality; and Next Luxury, which accounts for new technologies, shifting client expectations, emerging markets and new categories. Kering’s leadership contends that the ability to hold both simultaneously, without sacrificing one for the other, will define the strongest luxury groups of the coming decade.
The Group has already moved quickly on several fronts ahead of this announcement. Organisational structures have been reshaped, pricing and product architecture have been sharpened, the retail network has been rationalised and financial governance has been tightened. ReconKering builds on that groundwork and sets out a precise timeline for what comes next.
“ReconKering is our way of reconnecting with what makes Kering unique, while embracing what luxury is becoming. True Luxury is our mission, and Next Luxury is our horizon. This plan brings the two together with the agility of a challenger, a renewed focus on desirability and a stronger commitment to execution.”
Luca de Meo, Chief Executive Officer, Kering
Distinct strategies for a diverse portfolio
One of the more concrete elements of ReconKering is the degree to which each House has been given a clearly defined development agenda, rather than a single group-wide brief. Gucci, which remains the Group’s largest and most closely watched brand, is refocusing on the codes and creative signatures that have historically driven its desirability. Product architecture is being overhauled across leather goods, ready-to-wear, footwear and jewellery, and distribution is being streamlined to protect brand equity rather than chase volume.
Saint Laurent is being developed across a broader wardrobe, with a reinforced menswear offering and a more considered leather goods proposition. Asia is identified as a particular priority for geographic expansion. Bottega Veneta, by contrast, is focused on deepening what already distinguishes it: discretion, restraint and the kind of long-term value that comes from exceptional craft. The Intrecciato signature is being reinforced, and the brand’s cultural visibility across key markets is being deliberately increased.
Balenciaga is positioned as the Group’s bridge to younger luxury consumers, with a focus on restoring balance between its womenswear and menswear businesses while extending its geographic presence beyond Asia. McQueen is returning to its British sartorial roots, with a leaner collection and retail model built around women’s ready-to-wear, tailoring and eveningwear. Brioni, meanwhile, is doubling down on its standing in Italian alta sartoria, with customisation and Maestria tailoring at the centre of an increasingly refined lifestyle offer.
Expanding beyond fashion
Kering’s jewellery activity, which brings together Boucheron, Pomellato, DoDo and Qeelin, is being consolidated into a single unified structure. The gradual integration of Raselli Franco is intended to provide an industrial platform that improves craftsmanship standards, vertical integration and traceability across all four Houses. The Group believes this foundation will also create meaningful opportunities for its fashion brands to develop more credible jewellery propositions.
Kering Eyewear, which operates across a portfolio of 15 brands, has set its sights on leading the luxury smart eyewear category. A partnership with Google forms the centrepiece of that ambition, with the goal of elevating connected eyewear into a product that carries the same design authority and craft credentials as anything else the Group produces. Beyond that, Kering Next covers a range of emerging priorities: developing Ginori 1735 as a cultural design Maison, unlocking the beauty potential of the portfolio through a strategic partnership with L’Oreal, and pursuing longer-term opportunities in longevity and wellness through its House of Wonders initiative.
Building the infrastructure behind the brands
Underpinning all of this is a new Group platform structured around five shared capability hubs: Industry, Client, Technology, Sustainability and Support Functions. The Industry hub consolidates purchasing, logistics, research and development, manufacturing and supplier relationships across all Houses. A strategic joint venture with HModa, an Italian manufacturers’ company, has already been established to secure the Group’s industrial footprint and maintain access to critical manufacturing skills.
The Client hub is building what Kering describes as the luxury industry’s most advanced client intelligence platform, consolidating proprietary and external data into a single AI-powered base that can inform decisions from the design stage through to clienteling and media activation. The Technology hub provides the underlying infrastructure: cloud-native systems, agentic AI and next-generation digital twins are all being deployed to accelerate decision-making and support the new operating model. Sustainability runs through all of it, with environmental and social considerations embedded in every strategic and operational choice rather than treated as a separate reporting function.
A Financial Roadmap
Kering has set out its financial ambitions in specific terms. The Group is targeting a mid-term recurring operating margin that is more than double the full-year 2025 figure. Return on capital employed is expected to exceed 20% over the same horizon, supported by stronger fundamentals, tighter inventory discipline and more selective capital deployment. Between 5% and 6% of revenue will be reinvested in capital expenditure to support the organic growth of the Houses on an ongoing basis.
External growth will be selective, focused principally on bolt-on acquisitions that strengthen craftsmanship, vertical integration or raw material security. Shareholder returns will be maintained through a consistent dividend policy targeting a payout ratio of around 50% of recurring net income, Group share, with dividend growth aligned to performance over time. Brand equity is to be measured through a framework built on three pillars: visibility, appeal and image strength, developed in partnership with an external institution.
Reset, rebuild, reclaim: the three-phase sequence
ReconKering is organised into three distinct phases. By the end of 2026, the Group expects to have completed a structural reset: financial discipline restored, operational efficiency re-established and strategic clarity embedded across the organisation. Each House will have refocused on desirability and creative relevance, establishing what Kering describes as solid foundations for long-term performance.
The second phase, running to the end of 2028, is framed as a period of renewed and sustainable growth. With restored fundamentals and a fully activated Group platform, the ambition is to accelerate momentum across the portfolio, driving structural improvements in profitability alongside stronger client engagement. The final phase, to be completed by the end of 2030, is described simply as reclaiming leadership: a Group defined by desirability, powered by operational efficiency and built for the decade ahead. Kering’s leadership has acknowledged that geopolitical tensions and macroeconomic volatility remain real factors, but maintains that its long-term conviction in the strength of its portfolio and the quality of its execution provides a firm enough foundation to proceed with ambition.