My gamble with Gucci

THE contrast could not be starker. On the one hand is flamboyant designer Tom Ford, 42, who is credited with taking fashion house Gucci from the verge of bankruptcy to being one of the world's most powerful luxury goods brands.

On the other is former civil servant Serge Weinberg, 53, the chief executive of Pinault Printemps Redoute, the French retailer that is taking control of Gucci - without creative director Ford and chief executive Domenico De Sole.

Ford's decision to walk following reported disagreements over 'money and control' led to a flurry of headlines in the Press. They loved Ford's looks and glamour and delighted in his belief that Gucci celebrated 'hedonism, luxury and sex'.

Weinberg, however, is precise and measured. Of Ford's departure, he will only say drily: 'We accepted the possible consequences after a risk valuation and decided to take that risk.'

And it is a risk. PPR will be left with a disparate collection of Gucci's designer brands that - apart from the mother brand which is estimated to have made a profit of about £255m last year - mainly lose heavily and need massive spending on new stores and advertising.

The acquisition will plunge PPR headlong into the debate over whether it is the designer or the brand that matters most; whether a large conglomerate has the ability to manage a stable of designer 'luvvies' with explosive egos.

Classic brands such as Versace, Dior and Coco Chanel have prospered down the years with a succession of designers. But just because a designer has a powerful image does not mean he or she will be able to adapt to a big name label - ask John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Julien McDonald, who all struggled at Givenchy.

What many see as counting in Weinberg's favour is the success of Burberry, where the entire business has been revitalised by Rose Marie Bravo while creative director Christopher Bailey has remained in the background, allowing the fashion house itself to take the limelight.

Weinberg may be a man who studied law before attending the Ecole Nationale d'Administration - an incubator for France's business and political elite - but he is confident that his corporate, numbers-based approach to the business will be as successful as Ford's 'lifestyle' approach, which promoted his own image and waited for people to buy any dress, handbag, dining table or roll of wallpaper with which he was associated.

Joining PPR after a series of positions in the French Home Office, Weinberg is now intent on convincing shareholders that his 'new PPR' has the answer.

Though shareholders and his demanding boss, billionaire Francois Pinault, may be forced to wait for results, Weinberg believes he can create one of tomorrow's huge moneyspinners.

'To build global brands we have to make strong short-term investments that have no translation into profits,' he says. But ominously he adds: 'We do not have an infinite passion for beautiful products.'

Speaking at PPR's plainly furnished Paris headquarters, Weinberg implies that the group thought Ford's personal brand image had stifled the differentiation of Gucci from Yves Saint Laurent, one of its big name buys.

'We will have two designers, one for Gucci and one for YSL. There will be no group creative director.'

And he insists: 'We believe that each brand should have its own very strong identity.'

Weinberg constantly calculates Gucci's potential profit and risk in his head. But he says: 'Rather than throwing numbers about now, without first doing any precise homework, my job will be to kick the tyres and measure its performance. I aim to stretch its goals as much as possible.'