The sun is pouring through the window of François-Henri Pinault’s London office where the head of Kering, the lifestyle group, looks remarkably relaxed given the turmoil in the luxury market.
High-end retail groups including Kering brands Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent have suffered as terror attacks have cut the flow of free-spending tourists to Europe, and from sharply falling sales in Macau and Hong Kong since the 2014 pro-democracy protests began.
Even worse, Beijing’s crackdown on lavish spending and gift-giving, launched more than three years ago, has flattened sales in China after a decade of remarkable growth. In 2014, followingafter the abrupt change in policy, luxury spending in mainland China fell for the first time, according tosay consultants Bain & Co.