Marco Gobbetti will leave Walpole member Burberry at the end of 2021 after five years at the helm to take up the role of CEO at Ferragamo.
Gobbetti joined Burberry in 2017 with a mission to transform Britain’s biggest luxury player into a global luxury superbrand, with a creative vision that could play both high and low, whilst defining a uniquely British sensibility. His appointment of Ricardo Tisci as Chief Creative Officer helped to anchor that vision, refreshing the brand image with strong, coherent codes, and building a luxury leather goods business, something Burberry had not previously had, which was received with enormous enthusiasm from commentators and customers alike.
Under his leadership, Burberry has flourished, and shares have doubled in value over the last five years. Burberry weathered the Covid-19 storm well, not least in Asia, and at the beginning of the pandemic turned their Castleford manufacturing facility in Yorkshire to making PPE, as well as donating a substantial sum to the Oxford Vaccine Research project in March 2020 – this later became the Oxford Astra Zeneca vaccine. On his watch the company’s historic focus on digital innovation has also accelerated, with ground-breaking projects in social retail in China, as has their investment in, and commitment to, sustainability, and Burberry is the first luxury brand to pledge to become climate positive by 2040.
Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank said this morning: “Mr Gobbetti leaves Burberry in incredible shape, not only financially, but in the breadth and ambition of its creative vision, the elevation of the brand to a true super-luxury player, and its extraordinary commitment to sustainability and to brand purpose. On behalf of Walpole and its members, I want to say a huge thank you for all the support Burberry has given to Walpole and to the sector under his watch, and I look forward to the next chapter.”
