Tom Ford to Leave Gucci

Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole, credited with turning around the fortunes of the fashion house of Gucci, have said they will be leaving the company.

Pinault Printemps-Redoute (Paris), which took control of the Gucci Group two years ago, announced that it had been unable to agree to a new contract with Ford, Gucci's creative director, or with De Sole, its ceo, after months of negotiation. They will leave the company in April, after Ford has designed his last men's and women's collections for Gucci and its Yves Saint Laurent brand for the fall 2004 season.

While neither PPR ceo Serge Weinberg nor De Sole would explain the issues that separated them, The New York Times cited an executive close to the negotiations as saying the French company — which first bought into Gucci in 1999 — insisted on exerting management control over Gucci and its subsidiaries, which include Saint Laurent, while De Sole and Ford did not wish to cede their independence.

PPR first helped Gucci fend off an unwanted takeover attempt in 1999 by a rival French luxury goods group, LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton. After a protracted court fight, PPR bought LVMH's interest in Gucci to take control of the company in 2001. In addition to its 68 percent stake in Gucci, PPR owns Le Printemps, the Paris department store it acquired in 1992, and the Christie's auction house.

Both De Sole and Ford are contractually free to start their own companies once they leave Gucci. Yet The Times said analysts and retailing executives were skeptical whether the two men would do that, pointing out that De Sole has said he wants to retire. As for Ford, said The Times, he has played such a broad role in his nearly 10 years as the designer at Gucci — from shaping its sexy advertising image to building a stable of young subsidiary brands like Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney — that having his own label at this stage may not be enough to satisfy him.

“With Ford, the options are much less clear,” a London-based analyst told The Times. “He could start his own brand, but that seems unlikely. He could acquire another designer house and try to revive it, but which would that be? There's no obvious home for Tom Ford.”

Ford, who was in Los Angeles to oversee Gucci's advertising campaign for next spring and could not be reached for comment, has also expressed an interest in making movies.

“We're very disappointed by the decision of Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole,” said Burt Tansky, ceo of Neiman Marcus (Dallas), “because they have been a driving force behind the growth of Gucci Group, which is extremely important to Neiman Marcus.”

The immediate challenge for PPR will be to find creative directors for Gucci and Saint Laurent. Weinberg told The Times that he was not fearful of losing other management personnel at Gucci, despite their loyalties to De Sole and Ford.