An internal Gucci memorandum obtained by WWD records an important turn: the house is steering two collection-creation processes along different trajectories. The first is the experimental runway stream, the second a stable commercial line. The logic is simple: give Demna room for bold decisions while not leaving the stores without recognizable and basic pieces that generate the bulk of revenue.
The reorganization is built around business units. Each unites merchandising, collection coordination and core-line design in close conjunction with product development. The units are divided by category — leather goods, women's and men's ready-to-wear, footwear — and each has its own leader reporting to Marcello Costa, who holds the post of chief merchandising officer. Runway lines and core collections now live by different calendars, plans and decision-making processes, but converge under Demna's single artistic direction. Each line has its own design team, and both grew out of his vision. The core of the entire system, from design to execution, remains in Italy.
Two senior advisers, Monica Ulmi and Marco Semeggini, are called upon to implement the new scheme. Neither is a newcomer: Ulmi joined Gucci in 1996 as head of leather goods merchandising, and Semeggini in that same 1996 joined the company, having begun his career in 1991 at the Milan department store Rinascente. They will work between Milan and Florence, shoulder to shoulder with Demna himself and with president and CEO Francesca Bellettini.
Why did the house undertake such a restructuring? The answer lies partly in the history of recent years. Bellettini took the helm of Gucci in September 2025 and became the brand's fourth leader in two years, and before her the house went through several changes of course. During this time Demna released his first three collections: the debut "La Famiglia" with a gallery of archetypal characters, then a retrospective look at the Tom Ford era, and an autumn show devoted to physicality and lightness. Each step was an experiment, and critics received them ambiguously. The turning point came with the 2027 cruise collection for New York: there the Gucci Core category appeared in full for the first time, that is, a wardrobe of basic pieces such as an impeccable peacoat, a bow blouse and a cropped leather jacket. The core line is built on the mid-price segment, roughly from 2000 to 3000 euros, while the upper segment receives more complex details and materials, and entry-level models are reworked without loss of quality.
That is precisely why the separation of streams became not cosmetic but structural protection. Previously a single stream had to shock and sell at the same time, and every experiment risked revenue. Now the runway can remain a laboratory, while the core is a support that feeds the business and does not depend on the mood of the latest show. The parallel lines are not isolated, however: pieces from the catwalk continue to influence the core, but do not dictate its pace.
Demna came from Balenciaga, where experimentation was the norm, and now receives space for his own reading of Gucci's heritage. He does not have to choose between audacity and sales. The model is not new: a similar approach had been used at other houses before, yet here it is built around a specific designer and his manner of working.
The customer receives two different promises. From runway pieces — status and cultural resonance, the feeling that you are wearing what people are talking about. From the core — the confidence that a beloved bag or jacket will remain accessible and recognizable from season to season. Analysts who commented on Bellettini's appointment linked the return of the brand's desirability to disciplined distribution, attention to iconic products and a balance between exclusivity and scale. The separation of streams is exactly what makes it possible to put this into practice.
When a house is simultaneously forced to invent and to earn, the separation of streams ceases to be merely a technical restructuring. It is a way to preserve the sharpness of creativity and not lose customers' trust — and that is precisely where Gucci is heading now.
