PPR becomes Kering
New name chosen to reflect how firm “takes care” of its brands
From today, French conglomerate PPR (Pinault-Printemps-Redoute), which handles the brands YSL, Gucci and Boucheron, among others, is changing its name to Kering. The firm sold the Printemps retail chain in 2006 and is also aiming to sell its clothing and home goods retailer La Redoute by the end of 2013, and was therefore keen to change its name. It began rolling out the announcement in the French blogosphere in April.
The new name reflects the firm’s Breton origins (it was founded in Brittany in 1963), and to go with it, it also has a new logo of a stylised flying owl, designed by Dragon Rouge and Havas Lifestyle, and the tagline ‘Empowering Imagination’.
CEO François-Henri Pinault said that the new name indicates how the firm “takes care” of its brands. The firm plans to focus heavily in future on what he called the world’s new “economic centre of gravity” of Brazil, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Russia, and in Chinese, the firm’s new name will be Kai Yun, which has equally positive associations of ‘open skies’.
Kering’s luxury division includes the brands Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Bottega Veneta, Boucheron, Brioni, Christopher Kane, Girard-Perregaux, Gucci, Jean Richard, Qeelin and Sergio Rossi, while its growing sport-lifestyle division includes Cobra, Electric, Puma, Tretorn and Volcom.