Moncler Poaches Bottega Veneta Boss From Kering in Latest Luxury Shake-Up — Update

By Joshua Kirby

A senior executive at French fashion group Kering is taking the reins at Italian high-end apparel maker Moncler, adding to a string of management changes across European luxury-goods as the industry struggles to move on from a period of faltering sales.

Bartolomeo Rongone, chief executive of Kering-owned fashion brand Bottega Veneta, will step down at the end of March, the Paris-based group said Tuesday.

Rongone will join Moncler as CEO on April 1, Moncler said. He will replace shareholder Remo Ruffini who will remain as Moncler's executive chairman, "maintaining the responsibility for creative direction, and continuing to play a primary role in the governance and in defining the group's strategic direction," the company said.

The appointment of Rongone is a "forward-looking decision," said Ruffini, who in 2003 acquired the brand, which has roots in French ski culture and is best known for its premium winter puffer jackets. Ruffini took Moncler public in 2013, adding Italian apparel label Stone Island to the group in 2021.

The decision is an "evolution of our corporate organization, also in view of a possible generational succession in the future," Ruffini said.

"I will work together with Leo, with whom I immediately felt a strong alignment of values and vision, to make the organization even stronger, more agile, and ready to seize new opportunities," he said.

Rongone has spent more than two decades among luxury's stellar players. He started as an executive at Fendi, an Italian brand owned by French luxury titan LVMH, before moving across Paris to Kering as chief operating officer for Yves Saint Laurent. He became CEO at YSL's stablemate Bottega Veneta in 2019.

The search for Rongone's successor as head of Bottega Veneta is meanwhile underway, with an announcement due in the near future, Kering said.

"The Bottega Veneta management team is fully committed, together with Kering, to continue to drive the positive momentum of the House," the company said.

The switch to new management at Bottega Veneta--Kering's third-largest contributor to revenue after YSL and powerhouse Gucci, with sales of around 1.7 billion euros ($1.98 billion) in 2024--furthers a stream of recent changes to the group's management. In a surprise appointment, former Renault boss Luca de Meo took the group's reins as CEO last year, while Gucci is onto its third chief in less than 18 months after Francesca Bellettini took over in October.

Sector leader LVMH has also rung the changes, with Frederic Arnault, son of founder and CEO Bernard Arnault, appointed last year to lead Italian fashion house Loro Piana, mirroring previous changes at the top of the group's two largest brands, Louis Vuitton and Dior. Italy's Prada, another sector heavyweight, meanwhile parted ways with brand CEO Gianfranco D'Attis midway through last year.

Those changes have taken place amid a worrying slide in luxury sales and stock valuations, not least for Kering. The group has booked sharp drops in sales in recent quarters, hit by a glum consumer backdrop and fading creative momentum at its brands. Alongside changes in the C-suite, Kering has moved to shake up its creative offering, moving Balenciaga designer Demna Gvasalia to the top artistic job at Gucci last year.

Write to Joshua Kirby at joshua.kirby@wsj.com; @joshualeokirby

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2026 13:13 ET (18:13 GMT)