Gucci Faces Lawsuit About Deceiving Customers with “Ethically-sourced” Animal Skins

Gucci faces declining revenues and mounting scrutiny as it battles both market struggles and a class-action lawsuit. Through the first nine months of 2024, Gucci’s revenue dropped a staggering 22%, reflecting both cooling consumer demand and deeper challenges.

At the center of Gucci’s current troubles is a U.S.-based class-action lawsuit. The suit, filed by former Gucci salesperson Tracy Cohen, accuses the brand of deceiving consumers by presenting exotic-skin products as ethically sourced. According to Cohen and evidence presented by PETA, pythons and crocodiles have been treated inhumanely in Thailand farms, calling into question Gucci’s ethics. Cohen, who worked for Gucci for nearly two decades, claims she was unknowingly misled about the source of Gucci’s exotic-skin products, resulting in what she calls “unethical practices in luxury fashion.”

Kering CEO François-Henri Pinault has publicly championed Kering’s commitment to high ethical standards, expressing a vision of luxury that is inseparable from sustainable and socially responsible practices. Yet, RepTrak executive Stephen Hahn warns that any indication of consumer deception “ could result in long-lasting reputation damage and erosion of trust in Gucci,” an outcome that could further damage the brand.

As the case proceeds to the discovery phase in the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Illinois, Gucci’s legal and ethical challenges intersect with its ongoing business struggles. The brand’s sales have slumped further under the leadership of its new creative director, Sabato de Sarno. De Sarno was appointed after Alessandro Michele’s departure, a designer who had previously driven Gucci’s significant growth from 2015 to 2019. However, recent launches haven’t met expectations, with comparable sales and wholesale revenues both plummeting in 2024.

To tackle these setbacks, Gucci is welcoming a new CEO, Stefano Cantino, who will officially start in January 2025. Given Cantino’s prior experience at Louis Vuitton and Prada, he brings a strategic approach to communications that Gucci may need as it navigates these reputational and financial issues.

Gucci’s stance on animal welfare could play a critical role in how it recovers from this crisis. Kering announced in 2021 that all its brands would go fur-free, following Gucci’s own fur ban in 2017. Pinault has stressed that Kering is committed to improving practices within its own supply chain and the luxury sector in general.

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