In a week when the company says it is driven to overtake Louis Vuitton (LVMH) as the world’s leading luxury brand, Italian fashion giant says it is about make significant changes to how its goods are made and distributed.
According to the company’s most recent public statement, Gucci plans to cut its use of independent suppliers to 40% of its leather goods production over the long term, from 75% now. The move follows similar decisions by Britain's Burberry and France's Vuitton to take more control of the manaufacture and supply chain in order to reduce cost and save time.
"We want to reduce the lead time, and it's not possible if you're too scattered with small suppliers," Mr Bizzarri told the press, speaking at Gucci's new "ArtLab" site outside Florence, where it plans to ramps up the production of prototypes of bag and shoe designs.
"We also need to make sure other brands are not stealing supply. Because of the growth that we're having, we need to protect our artisans," Mr Bizzari added.
The new plan will see Gucci buy out ten local suppliers to meet the demand and bring work in house. There are also plans to add another ten suppliers to the Gucci network. They will create a system of wholly owned workshops and JV partnerships, all led by the research done at Gucci’s new ArtLab facility outside Florence, whose remit is research and development, as the brand seeks to perfect production methods new and old.
