Gucci and the fragility of desire

Gucci’s Drip sneakers cost around €800 in Europe and $1,000 in the U.S. The house refers to these as Demna’s first sneakers for Gucci. The label says “Made in China.” China makes excellent sneakers. Gucci says it chose a manufacturer with the technical capabilities this design required, and there is every reason to take that explanation seriously. For many brands, the label would hardly be a story. For Gucci, it is one because Italian origin has been woven so closely into what the house asks customers to desire. Some industry voices warn that the choice sits awkwardly with the luxury position Gucci is trying to reclaim. The public discussion I could verify is more divided. Some question paying a Gucci price for a shoe made outside Italy. Others defend Chinese manufacturing and reject the idea that origin determines quality. Both sides are responding to the same question: What does a customer believe they are buying when they buy Gucci? When Gucci’s “Made in Italy” story changes That question has become urgent. Gucci’s sales have nearly halved in three years, from €10.49 billion ($11.9 billion) in 2022 to €6 billion ($6.8 billion) in 2025. In the second quarter of 2026, revenue fell again, marking its 12th consecutive quarterly decline. The fall was smaller than in the previous quarter, but Gucci is still trying to recover the desire it once commanded. At such a moment, customers read every choice for clues about the house’s direction. I co-founded the Italian Mind Foundation to help re-establish the importance of Made in Italy. A phrase that once immediately evoked elegance, fashion, style, and quality has been used so broadly that it risks becoming generic. Those associations need care and renewal. They cannot be expected to survive on memory alone. Gucci has long been one of the houses that gave Made in Italy its force abroad. Its Florentine roots and Italian craft helped make the phrase tangible to customers around the world. Now, both sides of that relationship are vulnerable. Gucci is struggling to restore its desirability; Made in Italy is struggling to retain its distinct meaning. With the Drip, the connection between them becomes less certain too. Gucci’s decision may produce a better sneaker. That matters. Yet the house has spent decades making Italy part of its value. Gucci must understand why those customers pause when the story changes, even for a technically sound reason. Desire depends on such associations feeling clear and convincing. Once customers have to work to reconcile a product with the promise around it, some of that desire has already been spent. An unclear value proposition Reuters also reported that Gucci has begun lowering prices on selected products, including in China. A price correction may be commercially necessary. Alongside a change in provenance, though, it gives customers another reason to reconsider what the Gucci price represents. The person who paid more last season may wonder what their loyalty was worth. The prospective buyer may wonder which parts of the house’s promise still command a premium. None of this means one sneaker will decide Gucci’s future. The product’s significance is that it arrives when the house can least afford ambiguity about what makes it desirable. Gucci can choose the best maker for a shoe wherever that maker is. It also has to keep giving customers a reason to feel that Italy remains essential to the brand. Gucci has the talent to renew that conviction. Made in Italy can regain its clarity too. Both will depend on choices customers can recognize in the present, rather than memories they are asked to honor from the past. The Drip is one pair of shoes. The larger loss would be if Made in Italy became, for Gucci’s customers, a detail to check rather than a reason to desire the house. This is an opinion piece by Daniel Langer, CEO of luxury brand strategy firm Équité and Executive Professor of Luxury Strategy at Pepperdine University and NYU.

Gucci and the fragility of desire

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Gucci and the fragility of desire

How 2026 welcomed ‘Too Cool’ back