The Academy of Excellence, announced by Kering in April, is now a reality

No sooner said than done: less than three months after Kering’s announcement in Florence during its Capital Markets Day – on 16 April – the Accademia delle Eccellenze has become a reality. This is a testament to the managerial style and approach of Luca De Meo, CEO of the French group since last September, who is committed to revitalising Kering and all its fashion houses, starting with Gucci, but without neglecting the others – Saint Laurent, Bottega Veneta, Balenciaga, McQueen, Brioni, Boucheron, Pomellato, Dodo, Qeelin, Ginori 1735 – all of which contribute in various ways to the group’s prestige and turnover (14.7 billion in 2025). Today, the first memoranda of understanding will be signed at Mind (Milan Innovation District) with eight local educational institutions: Acof, Afol, Capac, Galdus, HModa, ITS Cosmo, Istituto Modartech and Schola. Also today, the ‘Committee of Thought’ (a name that is both imaginative and practical) will be established with its first meeting at Palazzo Citterio; this advisory body will guide the Academy’s strategic development: a network of excellence led by Sabina Belli, CEO of Pomellato, who had previously been appointed in Florence to head the organisation established by Kering.

There are bound to be many different views, as the committee comprises – in strict alphabetical order – Andrea Batilla (brand strategist and consultant), Alba Cappellieri (Head of Jewellery & Accessory Design at the Politecnico di Milano), Angelo Crespi (Director-General of the Pinacoteca di Brera, the Braidense National Library, Palazzo Citterio and the Last Supper), Stefania Lazzaroni (Director-General of Altagamma), Carlo Mazzoni (founder and editor of Lampoon Magazine), Andrea Raselli (chief operating officer for Kering’s Jewellery Division Production and Supply Chain), Tommaso Sacchi (Councillor for Culture for the City of Milan) and Arduino Salatin (lecturer at the Salesian University Institute in Venice).

“Luxury is undergoing a profound transformation: the traditional concepts of rarity and craftsmanship are now taking on new, broader and more complex meanings,” explains Sabina Belli. “With the Kering Academy for Excellence, we do not simply wish to pass on a technique inherited from the past, but to transform traditional crafts into dynamic professions; to do so, we must combine the precious intelligence of the hands with critical thinking, creativity and technological innovation. The eight regional partnerships and the establishment of the Think Tank are the concrete pillars of this vision.”

Diego Montrone, academic director of the Accademia per le Eccellenze and CEO of Galdus, emphasises the importance of the agreements with the eight schools: “The signing of these memoranda is the first step towards building a stable partnership with the world of education. We wanted to involve institutions and organisations spread widely across the region that cover a range of academic disciplines: from vocational education and training to ITS (Technical Institutes) and on to higher education in the arts, music and dance. Bringing together different skills and pathways will enable us to develop an increasingly attractive programme capable of inspiring the younger generations to take up these professions,” adds Montrone, “ensuring that no one misses out on opportunities and fostering an ongoing dialogue between students, teachers and fashion houses.”

Together with the schools run by the Kering Group’s fashion houses, the institutions selected to launch the Academy will help to highlight the distinctive features of their respective production sectors, not least through the Kering Lounge, the new space within Mind dedicated to the exchange of knowledge and the building of a community focused on the transmission of knowledge. This approach is already being put into practice in the workshops of the Pomellato Virtuosi project and the Botticino School of Restoration, both of which operate within the Campus.