Changing Times, New Leadership: A Year of CEO Checkmates

The context is different, and so are the people needed to navigate it. If in 2024 the global economy reached a record number of managerial changes in the international front line, in 2025 the mark is set to be broken. In the fashion industry, too. A new global context, new consumers with renewed needs and demands, and jobs that are more volatile than ever before: it’s the perfect storm to cause a real shuffle of chairs at the top of the fashion business in 2025.

As of the third quarter, a total of 174 CEOs had been removed from their position internationally, while a total of 176 executives had joined a company’s top executive position, according to data from Russell Reynolds. CEOs are getting shorter. The average tenure of departing CEOs has fallen to 7.2 years through the end of the third quarter of 2025, down slightly from 7.3 years in the same period in 2024 and below the highs of 8.4 years recorded in 2021 and 2023.

The fashion industry, intimately linked to consumption and therefore more volatile than others, is already becoming accustomed to living in a process of continuous change. Throughout 2025, leading companies in all segments have renewed their top management lines, some to face a complex economic situation, others as a result of a change of structure, and others simply because of the end of the cycle, five years after the Covid-19 crisis. Kering, Decathlon, Calvin Klein, El Corte Inglés, Pandora, Dunhill, Fendi, Geox, Vestiare Collective, Jill Sander and Foot Locker join Valentino, Pronovias, Tous, Lacoste and Bata.

The appointment of Luca de Meo as head of Kering was undoubtedly the most relevant of the year, not only because of the company’s relevance (third largest global operator in the luxury industry), but also because, in an inbred sector such as fashion, he represents importing talent from something as far away at first glance as the automotive industry. On June 16th, Luca de Meo, until then a director of Renault, took the reins of Kering, after François-Henri Pinault, the giant’s heir, stepped aside from the top executive line.

Crises, changes of structure or end of cycle mark the renewal of the top management of fashion companies in the last financial year

With Kering at a low point (mainly due to the weakness of Gucci), De Meo has joined the French group with the experience of having worked in an industry of fine-tuned operations such as the automotive industry, but also with the experience of having applied marketing like few others, having been the driving force behind Cupra and 500, two brands that have brought fashion closer to cars. The first phase of the De Meo plan has begun: reorganization, cost reduction and divestments.

Although the move has gone more unnoticed, Inditex, the world’s number one fashion retailer, has made another major move. In May, the company chaired by Marta Ortega announced the creation of a new position: corporate general management. Ignacio Fernández Fernández, a long-time finance executive, was appointed to this position, which in practice represents a strengthening of the area and a sign of the approach of the CEO, Oscar García Maceiras. In parallel to the creation of the new position, the company also made two other appointments. Andrés Sánchez Iglesias, director of tax, has become chief financial officer, while Fernando de Bunes Ibarra, director of risk management, has taken over sustainability, an area that drops one position on the organization chart and loses its position on the management committee.

Luca De Meo represents change in the fashion industry. Coming from the automotive sector, he has taken the reins at French luxury giant Kering. Reorganization, cost reduction and divestments are the first ingredients of his recipe for the Pinault family’s company.

After hectic years at Nike and Adidas, in 2025 it was Puma’s turn in the sports industry. In April, the German company parted ways with its CEO so far, Arne Freundt, over differences on the execution of brand strategy. The replacement found him at Adidas, which triggered rumors of a possible merger between the two companies, with common family origins.

Since July 1st, Puma has been led by Arthur Hoeld, who has already made known his recipe for reviving a brand that has lost its connection with the market and whose results are worsening quarter by quarter. As in the case of Kering, before the relaunch come the cutbacks: Puma, which has already predicted that it will be in the red by 2025, has laid off 900 employees at its headquarters.

Barbara Martin Coppola did not even have three years to develop her roadmap at Decathlon. In March, the French company announced the departure of the executive and the appointment of Spaniard Javier Lopez as CEO, a month after Julien Leclercq, the youngest son of the group’s founder (Michel Leclercq), took over the presidency. Lopez will have to make a major impact on the group’s sales, which closed 2024 with a 15% drop in profit in the year of the Paris Olympic Games.

Companies such as Decathlon, Pandora, El Corte Inglés, Pronovias, Tous, Zegna, Parfois, Puma and Bata have renewed their top executives over the past year.

If behind most of these movements lies a moment of weakness in sales, this is not the case for Calvin Klein. Last May, the PVH-owned company announced the departure of Eva Serrano, president of the company since the end of 2022. Despite this, the U.S. brand, which has gone down in history for repositioning an entire category, underwear, has reaped in 2025 the rewards of the strategic plan launched in 2023 by Calvin Klein.The strategic plan launched in 2023 by Serrano, who brought the brand back to the catwalk after a six-year absence by relaunching its positioning through campaigns with Bad Bunny and Rosalia (the latter two in 2025).

The department store industry, an ocean liner industry that is difficult to turn around, has also experienced its own particular shake-up at the top. The Spanish group El Corte Inglés, one of the world’s largest in terms of turnover, dismissed its CEO, Gastón Bottazzini, in October. The company has opted not to replace him and has appointed Santiago Bau as corporate general manager. In June, the Mexican group El Palacio de Hierro made effective the departure of its CEO and architect of the company’s relaunch: Juan Carlos Escribano left the company due to retirement. In his place, the company appointed Eléonore de Boysson.