Gucci Sets Up New Business Units’ Structure

by · WWD
Gucci Spring 2027 Ready-to-Wear Collection at Milan Fashion WeekGiovanni Giannoni/WWD

MILAN — Gucci is setting up its new business units’ organization, and has tapped two seasoned industry experts to ensure its execution, WWD has learned.

According to an internal memo seen by WWD, the goal is to further support artistic director Demna’s creativity while empowering the business units through “two distinct flows for the development of the fashion collections,” referring to the runway lineups and the core collections, or wardrobing staples, “designed to bring more focus, clearer responsibilities and stronger collaboration.”

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Monica Ulmi and Marco Semeghini are joining Gucci as senior advisers to the business units, based in Italy, between Milan and Florence, and working alongside Demna and president and chief executive officer Francesca Bellettini.

Neither one is a stranger to Gucci.

Ulmi first joined Gucci in 1996 as leather goods merchandising director, a role she held until 2004, before becoming merchandising director, a position she held until 2008. She then moved to Salvatore Ferragamo from 2009 to 2010 and Versace from 2010 to 2018. Since then, she has worked as an independent merchandising adviser.

Semeghini began his career in 1991 at Italy’s main department store Rinascente. He joined Gucci in 1996, where he held buying and merchandising roles of increasing responsibility until 2005. From 2005 to 2010 he was worldwide director of merchandising, product and product development at Tom Ford, and from 2010 to 2014 director of product and product development at Canali. He has since worked as a consultant and teaches fashion business and luxury marketing strategies, including Istituto Marangoni and NYU in Florence.

Developed in parallel, the fashion and core collections will have separate calendars, plans and decision-making processes.

The business units are organized by category: leather goods, women’s ready-to-wear, men’s ready-to-wear and shoes, each with a dedicated lead reporting to Marcello Costa, appointed chief product officer. Before that, Costa was promoted to chief merchandising officer in May 2025. He joined Gucci in February 2025, bringing more than two decades of industry experience from leading fashion houses including Bottega Veneta, Miu Miu and Stella McCartney.

Each business unit brings together merchandising, collection coordination and core collection design in close partnership with product development.

According to the memo, this will help achieve “greater focus, clearer ownership and stronger accountability, helping the company make better and faster decisions, while protecting what matters most: creativity, the excellence of Gucci’s products and its clients.”

The memo underscored that the core engine of the house, from design to development and execution, is anchored in Italy.

The fashion and core collections have a each a dedicated design team, both stemming from Demna’s vision.

Each business unit is accountable for the end-to-end execution of its category, from the core plan to calendar and development, including icons, wardrobe pieces, drops and made-to-order client requests adapted from the shows.