Lorenzo Bertelli: The Prince of Prada Prepares to Take the Wheel

MILAN – At Prada’s Spring/Summer season 2024 present in Milan, the model’s signature mashup of innovation and heritage was on full show.

A curtain of slime oozed from the ceiling, making a hanging backdrop for a set wealthy in twisted glamour: a lineup of organza shift clothes harkening again to the Twenties gave off a ghostly aura because of vapour-light particulars. The robes have been punctuated by bourgeois wardrobe staples like cashmere polos — which acquired a punk twist from rows of metallic rivets — and patchwork leather-based overcoats that felt each ladylike and louche.

The Prada model is white-hot, with revenues rising 17 % within the first half of the 12 months regardless of a rocky luxurious market. With gross sales again on monitor after years of sluggish development, managing generational change is now the corporate’s high precedence: Designer Miuccia Prada, 74, and her husband and enterprise associate Patrizio Bertelli, 77, are step by step relinquishing management of the corporate. Titans of the Italian luxurious business since taking management of the model based by Miuccia’s grandfather within the Eighties, the pair gave up their long-held co-CEO titles earlier this 12 months, hiring Prada’s first-ever exterior chief executives at each the group and model ranges.

Since 2020, Miuccia Prada has been flanked by co-artistic director, Raf Simons, her favoured successor. The model’s September present was the final for design director Fabio Zambernardi, who’s making ready to retire from the corporate after roughly three a long time working as Mrs. Prada’s right-hand for each Prada and sister label Miu Miu.

Passing the baton to the subsequent technology at Prada—which greater than another listed luxurious model stays fuelled by the private obsessions of its founders, can be no simple feat.

Enter Lorenzo Bertelli, Miuccia and Patrizio’s eldest son and the corporate’s group advertising and marketing director. Because the fast-rising inheritor to Prada’s throne, in only a few years Bertelli has come to embody the corporate’s push to steadiness continuity with the necessity for evolution.

On the day of the present, Bertelli, 35, greeted celeb company together with actress Scarlett Johansson and Korean pop singers Enhypen as cameras whirred across the runway capturing the gathering from each angle.

“Every thing’s altering in order that every part can keep the identical,” the manager informed BoF in a latest interview at Prada’s artwork basis, a former distillery in Milan that the household has transformed right into a sprawling museum, full with a gleaming tower designed by Rem Koolhaas the place the model levels its runway exhibits.

An brisk 35 year-old with full of life eyes and an approachable manner, Bertelli was unknown to the worlds of trend and enterprise previous to becoming a member of the corporate in late 2017, having devoted most of his grownup life to sport: Bertelli was a racecar driver on the rally circuit since 2010. Earlier than that, he was mad about soccer, enjoying with ultra-competitive drive all through his teenage years.

Longstanding efforts to revive Prada’s high line have been already beginning to take maintain when Bertelli joined the corporate. Progress has since accelerated, as Bertell first labored to revamp the corporate’s digital communications — lengthy a weak spot for the corporate — serving to to revive buzz across the model particularly amongst younger customers. (A transfer to carry again the model’s iconic nylon equipment, albeit at the next value level, additionally helped).

“I needed to resolve whether or not to start out the place there was already a know-how, like provide chain or retail, or begin on the weakest level and put a watch on one thing the place my dad and mom weren’t as robust,” Bertelli defined.

The manager has since expanded his purview: Along with becoming a member of the group’s board of administrators in 2021, he now oversees all the firm’s advertising and marketing actions, in addition to initiatives in know-how, sustainability, and the launch of a brand new fantastic jewelry division. Bertelli has additionally labored carefully with design and industrial groups to engineer a turnaround at Miu Miu, the place a sharper advertising and marketing message and extra centered collections are driving explosive gross sales development (The model’s revenues jumped over 50 % within the first half of this 12 months.)

‘A Fully New Crew’

If the soundtrack for Hitchcock’s “Vertigo” boomed on the September present, Bertelli’s rise comes as Prada Group seeks to construct by itself nice heights: The corporate is chasing development on high of its best-ever 12 months in enterprise in 2022, after a spate of buzzy collections and a pandemic surge in luxurious demand lastly pushed Prada above its earlier excessive water mark from the 2010s (the flagship Galleria bag’s growth years in China). The group reported 2022 gross sales of €4.2 billion, of which €3.7 billion have been generated in its personal retail shops.

However the firm is aiming to jot down its subsequent chapter of development and handle generational change at a tough time: after post-Covid euphoria powered an unprecedented surge in revenues for high luxurious manufacturers, the market has been shaken by excessive inflation and a declining demand from aspirational customers.

The household has introduced in a workforce of high enterprise leaders from outdoors the corporate to behave as regents, easing the transition to Lorenzo Bertelli’s meant reign. Andrea Guerra, who led eyewear big Luxottica throughout its 2000s growth, has joined as group CEO, whereas Gianfranco D’Attis, a Swiss government who labored at Richemont earlier than overseeing a interval of explosive development at LVMH’s Christian Dior as president of the model’s Americas division, has been employed as CEO at flagship Prada label.

The elder Mr. Bertelli has transitioned to an government chairman position whereas owner-designer Miuccia Prada continues to function co-creative director alongside Simons, in addition to designing Miu Miu. Within the final 12 months, the corporate additionally appointed new executives to the position of CFO, auditor, counsel, and head of individuals.

“Since two years it’s a very new workforce,” Lorenzo Bertelli stated of the manager overhaul. “The style business has modified quite a bit. It’s like sports activities — you may’t simply win along with your expertise anymore, you want a construction, an organisation.”

An Unconventional Path

Bertelli’s path to the C-suite has been without delay extremely conventional and extremely unconventional. Because the eldest son within the fourth technology of Prada’s founding household, Lorenzo was the corporate’s prince in ready. On the identical time, he snubbed enterprise research, as a substitute opting to review philosophy on the College Vita-Salute San Raffaele, a programme that pulls vibrant younger Italians trying to keep away from (or a minimum of delay) the specialised economics programmes that almost all see as the trail to enterprise success.

Obsessed with sports activities, Bertelli devoted his teenage years to soccer earlier than turning into a racecar driver, spending almost a decade driving in highway rallies around the globe.

Whereas it’s tempting to think about that Prada’s scion has been quietly groomed for the highest job since delivery, Bertelli claims his involvement in — and even consciousness of — the group’s operations was minimal previous to becoming a member of the corporate. “It was my dad and mom’ job, actually simply that,” Bertelli stated.

Whilst he grew older and began to ponder “taking his duty within the group,” he remained distanced from the corporate by the prolonged rally season, travelling as many as 200 days yearly on a circuit that stretches from Monte Carlo in January to Japan in November.

Nonetheless, Bertelli gained expertise which have served him throughout his fast rise within the group. Sports activities taught him “to take a look at your self within the mirror — actually,” he says. “In sports activities it’s the identical as in enterprise: You compete with others, positive, however first you compete with your self.”

His philosophy programs on the Vita-Salute San Raffaele, in the meantime, sharpened his aptitude for dialogue and resolving contradictory factors of view. That’s hardly with out worth in a worldwide trend business the place high executives straddle oversight of producing, retail, design and advertising and marketing throughout numerous areas on daily basis.

“What we actually lack on this planet at this time are individuals who can talk,” Bertelli stated.

Regardless of remaining a comparatively untested government, the market has responded favourably to the youthful Bertelli’s elevated involvement within the group. That’s partially as a result of he delivered swift outcomes when he joined Prada in digital advertising and marketing, the place the corporate had lengthy been a laggard after years of under-investing in Instagram and snubbing influencers.

By the point of his first 2021 investor Q&A, Lorenzo Bertelli put forth motion plans on key pillars like advertising and marketing, sustainability, know-how and the corporate’s forthcoming push into fantastic jewelry. Markets welcomed elevated involvement of Prada’s subsequent technology.

Quickly after the investor occasion shares rose to almost a five-year excessive. Revenues quickly adopted: Prada reported their highest-ever gross sales figures final 12 months, surpassing 4.2 billion euros.

“Lorenzo has been instrumental in driving plenty of adjustments for the higher,” analyst Luca Solca stated.

“It’s very tough to duplicate the complementarities between Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli,” stated Paola Cillo, director of the Luxurious Administration program at Milan’s Bocconi College. “Lorenzo has a philosophical coaching that seems to align him with [Miuccia] Prada, in addition to seeming to share in a few of his father’s pragmatic, hands-on enterprise imaginative and prescient. He’s actually their baby — this can be a distinctive trait and really fascinating for the market.”

Prada’s Cultural Method

Prada reached its latest high-water mark amid surging luxurious gross sales for the reason that pandemic. On-line model activations had been catnip to homebound shoppers throughout the first years of Covid-19, whereas fiscal stimulus, surging equities and a “YOLO” perspective prompted a buying rush as soon as shops and journey resumed. Prada’s sporty-chic model picture and logo-heavy merchandising with inverted triangles galore made it a pure winner.

Now, as increased rates of interest and slowing financial development pressure many purchasers, luxurious firms are racing to stave off potential model fatigue. “Trend is a bit drained at this time second,” Bertelli admitted.

To remain within the dialog, luxurious homes are ramping up efforts to achieve potential purchasers through pursuits past simply trend, dialling up their advertising and marketing actions throughout sports activities, music, cinema and different aspects of tradition.

Prada, is in some ways the unique “cultural model,” having enriched its model message by way of Mrs. Prada and Bertelli’s synthesis of cutting-edge influences going again to the Eighties. For many years, the model has labored to generate novelty from aesthetic contradictions: juggling its Artwork Deco roots with signatures that commemorate Italian post-Struggle Modernity, in addition to tapping in cutting-edge modern creativity.

The corporate’s Rem Koolhaas-designed artwork basis has moved the dial on Milan’s cultural scene with exhibits curated by artwork luminaries like Luc Tuymans populated with iconic works from Damien Hirst and Carsten Holler to Carravaggio. Director Wes Anderson, who was seated beside Scarlett Johansson on the entrance row at September’s present, designed the museum café, and has additionally curated exhibits for the muse.

Prada’s model identification is a perspective on issues. It goes past trend.

Actors like Joaquin Phoenix and John Malkovich appeared in Prada campaigns beginning within the early 2000s, whereas Miu Miu was the primary luxurious model to place actresses within the place of fashions. Chloë Sevigny and Uma Thurman are amongst these to have graced its runway earlier than Emma Corrin debuted the look of the season for Autumn/Winter 2023: a turtleneck sweater with sequined briefs, tights, and peep-toe pumps. On the earth of sport, sponsorships which have anchored the credibility of its red-tag line of sneakers and rain shells embody the Luna Rossa crusing workforce, whose victories in competitions together with the Louis Vuitton Cup received it the correct to problem for the Americas Cup, crusing’s high honour.

“Again then, nobody was doing these type of issues. However Prada’s model identification is in the end a perspective on issues — to have a imaginative and prescient on modernity, on tradition, on sport. It goes past trend.” Bertelli stated.

Sketching a triangle on a serviette, Bertelli explains that decades-long efforts have positioned the model on the very high of tradition’s pyramid throughout a wide range of domains. The model’s problem now can be to “stretch” that involvement to incorporate activations that attain a wider viewers with out diluting the model’s aura of insider authority.

“We’ve a lot credibility, however lots of people don’t know. It’s essential to promote it,” Bertelli stated.

The corporate’s latest drive to spice up gross sales of its flagship Galleria type — now fronted by actress Scarlett Johannsen — is an effective instance of the trouble to “stretch” whereas nonetheless aiming for the highest: Johansson’s profession was initially anchored by arty flicks like “Misplaced in Translation” or “Match Level,” however has gone on to incorporate blockbusters like Marvel’s “Black Widow.”

Its a advertising and marketing strategy well-suited to an organization that should promote extra well-known merchandise like fragrance or nylon backpacks whereas nonetheless preserving the area of interest attraction of its ready-to-wear collections for trend insiders: Prada is one in all only a handful of luxurious manufacturers to make actual cash with seasonal collections, with an extended roster of devoted purchasers who place orders prematurely each season.

Whereas Prada has added extra “have a look at me” components like faux-fur-coated partitions, oozing slime or panopticon-like digicam robots to its runways, the model has averted utilizing these moments to court docket an excessive amount of mass attraction.

“You’ll be able to’t stretch the style half an excessive amount of otherwise you kill it — I want to make use of different instruments. The style must preserve a sure purity,” Bertelli stated.

At its latest Milan present, Prada nailed the transient for just-edgy-enough celeb casting: Vincent Cassel, Kylie Jenner, Spanish pop singer Rosalía, Hunter Schafer, Emma Watson, Johannson and Anderson all sat in a line. Social media engagements for the present totalled 250,000 in response to analysts at Bernstein, 85 % of these pushed by a lot bigger rival Gucci.

Whereas many advertising and marketing chiefs more and more search hyper-visibility throughout channels all year long, Bertelli is cautious of boring audiences with fixed ubiquity. “I’m in favour of doing big stuff… But when it’s on a regular basis, when you have too many peaks, then it turns into simply flat,” he stated, drawing a form of “buzz” chart within the air along with his finger. “Contrasts are vital.”

The Way forward for Prada

Trying forward, Prada is hoping higher-than-ever gross sales will create a virtuous cycle, permitting it to take a position greater than ever in fuelling development. The most important precedence, Bertelli says, can be to put money into larger, extra modern shops that permit it to point out off the breadth of its providing, together with new divisions like fantastic jewelry, launched in 2021, and homeware, a pet challenge of Bertelli père, a designer furnishings fanatic who labored to relaunch the class final 12 months.

Even with a succession plan and regency in place, whether or not the Prada-Bertellis would possibly ever promote the model or merge with one other firm stays a goal of intense hypothesis.

In the end, regardless of a return to robust development for the reason that pandemic Prada stays in the identical bind as all listed independents within the luxurious items enterprise, the place the unprecedented scale and ultra-high margins of sector-leader LVMH and its flagship model Louis Vuitton make it more and more tough to compete for market share. Like different stand-alones resembling Burberry, Prada faces stress to steadiness investing in development with preserving margins.

Latest strikes just like the refresh of its government ranks, making the model much less founder-dependent, and exploring a second itemizing on the Milan Bourse — which might possible increase the corporate’s valuation — have left some questioning whether or not the household actually sees the youthful Bertelli as a long-term resolution, or if they’re dressing the corporate up for a profitable sale.

Other than placing ahead its succession plan, the household hasn’t performed a lot to quiet hypothesis relating to such a attainable transfer: In a 2021 interview, Patrizio Bertelli informed BoF that remaining unbiased “just isn’t the primary goal we’d take into consideration… Ultimately you may personal a smaller slice of an even bigger cake.”

In July, the youthful Bertelli dismissed sale hypothesis — whereas preserving a simply sufficient ambiguity too preserve potential acquirers on the road: “We’re not going to promote, for now,” Lorenzo stated. “In fact I imply ‘for now’ within the Italian manner — it’s extra of a superstition.”