TOndrea Guerra, CEO of Prada, starting December 2, Versace will join the group he has led for almost three years. Why did you make this acquisition?
“Versace is a unique brand, extraordinary but also complementary, from the point of view of aesthetics and consumer sentiment, to Prada and Miu Miu. At the same time Versace has important similarities with our brand, it was born in a world of culture, with deep thought, in the history of Mediterranean classics, with an idea.”
Is this the beginning of the Prada group’s growth path through external channels?
“No, this is an opportunity. Whoever owns it, felt the need to sell, at a time when many competitors were thinking more about themselves than expanding. We felt ready and we took advantage of this opportunity, also in terms of price.”
The acquisition of Versace cost 1.25 billion, where do you think the group’s revenue will go?
“Well aware that this is a strong commitment, we think we will not bring home real results in the short term, but in the long term. If we continue to grow, in the future we can reach revenues of 7 billion. But we need to do in-depth work on branding, creativity, positioning, identity, product desirability.”
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Want to bring Versace back to the glory days of Gianni, who, among other things, was born on December 2?
“I don’t think we need to take something where it already is, but the most important thing is not to betray history. In the fashion we see today, there is a lot of Versace: he was the first to create supermodels, glamor and brought fashion closer to popular culture, to music. The DNA of the brand is very strong and it is up to us to understand how the brand should live in 2027, in 2030, in 2040. There must be a positive tension between the brand’s creativity and its history.”
Lorenzo Bertelli will also become executive president of Versace. Will Mrs. Miuccia Prada take care of the styling part?
“No, Madame Miuccia is a large shareholder of the Prada group but she will not take care of the Versace style part. There will be people, starting with Lorenzo, who will start this journey. We will still have to enter the company and talk to everyone, get to know each other while maintaining balance. And then we will go our own way. But this will be a moment of discontinuity, we will be able to apply several different canons, and also experiment, we can measure ourselves on Versace as in a laboratory. And this will also be interesting for Lorenzo”.
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And what will change for the Prada group as a whole?
“Within the group we have two important engines, Prada and Miu Miu, which have delivered sustainable growth for 20 consecutive quarters. Now we are adding another engine, Versace, which will bear fruit in the long term.
Will you achieve economies of scale with three machines?
“It is clear that scale is important, but the scale must be sustainable. For the same number of stores, we must ensure that our products are the most in demand, that our employees are better at serving and provide more hospitality to our customers, with the best IT and digital solutions. Only in this way can we grow double digits when the market is falling.”
Miu Miu is a success story in the last two years, its turnover has exceeded one billion. What’s the secret?
“Miu Miu is a brand that is 30 years old and continues to grow, despite a small teenage crisis. There is a lot of debate within us about what Miu Miu should be: a real brand, spontaneous, inclusive, with no distance between the product and the consumer, which creates community. This was demonstrated by the reopening of the first floor of the store on Bond Street in London, which is a big living room, a warm home environment. And if you think like this, then you can have extraordinary success, which we managed, despite moving towards normalization.”
At an industry level, are you continuing to acquire smaller companies along the luxury goods supply chain?
“Prada was born as a multifaceted brand, on the one hand creativity, innovation, curiosity, but since its birth it has planted a solid pillar in the industrial world. Today the group has more than 3000 workers in Italy, and a workforce that allows us flexibility and cultivates skills that are fundamental to our work. We want to maintain this capability also in the future, thanks to the Prada Group Academy, our trade school, so we can say that we have guaranteed the transfer of the brand’s artisanal knowledge.”
Will the advent of artificial intelligence allow you to save on staff?
“Absolutely not, our work is made of hands, hearts, brains, culture, AI will allow us to do our jobs better. You will save time, you will have the ability to search through millions of pieces of data with a generative capacity that is incomparable to the past. And then new ways will be developed for consumers to search for brands and products through platforms that are no longer passive.”
Where is the Prada group investing currently?
“In our stores to increase the level of privacy and friendliness. Then in technology to equip the group with the best and most open digital platforms. The company must have an engine capable of finding the most passionate and dreaming consumers. We are also investing to reduce the delivery of products in stores for a week or two. This will be a strong competitive advantage, more than just a price reduction.”
Is Made in Italy in crisis?
Made in Italy has also had the same problem for years, they produce 80% of the global luxury goods market but only sell 20%. Our generation has created prolific, artisanal wonders, but when it comes to creating brands, running stores, conveying dreams to consumers, we are not the best. Retail in Italy is not considered first class, while in France and Switzerland there are universities that prepare the younger generation for dialogue with consumers. In Italy everything has been passed down in families, hotels, shops, restaurants, but now we need a leap in quality.”
If Armani is sold to a French group, will it be a problem for Prada?
“For the Armani group today there is the will and presence of a family that has to emerge from a moment of great suffering and understand what the path and time are. From our point of view, there is great respect and we are not afraid of anything, we are very active.”
