Salvatore Ferragamo appoints Paul Andrew as new creative director

Italian luxury house Salvatore Ferragamo announced on Thursday that it has promoted British designer Paul Andrew – who joined the company in September 2016 – to the role of creative director. 

Andrew was originally responsible for the women's footwear division before being promoted to creative director of all the brand's women's collections in October 2017. 

With his latest appointment as the house's creative director, "all design functions across the brand will be grouped under Andrew’s responsibility," explains the company in a press release, meaning that the designer will also now be overseeing the label's menswear segment. 

French designer Guillaume Meilland will stay on in his role as creative director of the house's men's collections but will henceforth follow Andrew's lead. 

Salvatore Ferragamo, which currently has some 4,000 employees and 672 points of sale, has been experiencing problems with its brand positioning, a fact which has led to falling sales over the past two years. The company's revenues fell 3.4% in 2018 after an already challenging 2017. 

Footwear is still the core of the Florentine house's business, representing 41.2% of the company's sales, but even revenues in this category fell 5.9% last year. Overall, the brand saw its net income plummet 42.4% in 2017, while revenues declined 3.1%.

In 2016, Salvatore Ferragamo began ongoing reorganisation efforts in an attempt to turn its fortunes around. In line with this strategy, the house has been aiming to strengthen its position in product categories where it has a weaker presence, while also consolidating its footwear business. 

The group also appointed a new CEO in July: Micaela Le Divelec Lemmi, who has 20 years of experience working at French luxury conglomerate Kering, particularly at Gucci. 

The company's turnaround is dragging though, and the current economic context is steadily becoming increasingly complicated thanks to slowing growth in Europe, trade tensions between China and the US, and Brexit.