Anthony Vaccarello signs for another 3 years at Saint Laurent - sources

By

Astrid Wendlandt

Published
Sep 20, 2018

Anthony Vaccarello, known for his rock-chic looks and asymmetric designs, has renewed his contract with Saint Laurent for another three years, industry sources with first-hand knowledge of the matter have told FashionNetwork.com.

The Belgian designer, who joined in 2016 from Versus Versace, has been successfully driving growth at Saint Laurent, the second fashion brand after Gucci at parent Kering in terms of size and profitability.
 “He has renewed his contract this month for another three years,” one of the sources said on condition of anonymity.

“I knew that he was going to stay at YSL even though some people had suggested that he could leave,” another source said. Nobody at Kering or Saint Laurent was available for comment.

The deal with Vaccarello should reassure investors and signal stability at the French brand while there has been much change elsewhere at parent Kering this year. The group controlled by the Pinault family ended its partnership with Stella McCartney and Christopher Kane and replaced long-standing designer Tomas Maier with young British designer Daniel Lee at Bottega Venetta to creatively reboot the Italian brand. Kering has also spun off sports brand Puma and ended ties with the Tomas Maier brand, which will close down. 

Vaccarello has overseen solid growth at Saint Laurent since he started working for the brand, picking up the baton from designer Hedi Slimane who had propelled growth to record levels. Slimane also oversaw every aspect of the brand’s development from its clothing designs and the brand’s website to taking photos for ads himself. Last year, Saint Laurent’s revenues rose 25 percent on a comparable basis to 1.5 billion euros. In the half-year to June 30, like-for-like revenues rose nearly 20 percent to 808.2 million euros, bringing it closer to its medium-term target of 2 billion euros in annual revenues and long-term target of 3 billion euros. Comparatively, Gucci generates 6.2 billion euros in annual sales, making it bigger than Hermes and Christian Dior (though revenues come mostly perfume and cosmetics), which each generate around 5.5 billion euros in annual revenues.  

Saint Laurent has been enjoying impressive double-digit growth for the past seven years and expanding aggressively, opening around 20 shops a year. However, sales growth, which once reached stratospheric levels of more than 70 percent, has normalized in recent quarters.

Vaccarello will present his new collection at Paris Fashion Week on Tuesday while Hedi Slimane, who joined LVMH’s Celine as creative director earlier this year, will unveil his first collection for the brand on Friday.