In Good Company with Nicolai Tangen - Prada Group CEO: The Old Normal of Luxury, the Bet on Versace and Why Patience Beats Trends

Episode Date: April 8, 2026

In this episode of In Good Company, Nicolai Tangen sits down with Andrea Guerra, CEO of the Prada Group, in Milan to explore the art of building iconic luxury brands. They discuss why luxury must return to its "old normal" of exclusivity and experience, the extraordinary rise of Miu Miu as a rebellious yet inclusive brand, and how the acquisition of Versace opens a bold new chapter for the group. Andrea also shares his philosophy on resonant leadership, empowering people to express themselves and embracing debate to reach better decisions. With ambitions spanning generations, the Prada Group is playing the long game.In Good Company is hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management. New full episodes every Wednesday, and don't miss our Highlight episodes every Friday.  The production team for this episode includes Isabelle Karlsson and PLAN-B's Niklas Figenschau Johansen and Sebastian Langvik-Hansen. Background research was conducted by Isabelle Karlsson. Watch the episode on YouTube: Norges Bank Investment Management - YouTubeWant to learn more about the fund? The fund | Norges Bank Investment Management (nbim.no)Follow Nicolai Tangen on LinkedIn: Nicolai Tangen | LinkedInFollow NBIM on LinkedIn: Norges Bank Investment Management: Administrator for bedriftsside | LinkedInFollow NBIM on Instagram: Explore Norges Bank Investment Management on Instagram Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hi everyone. Today, I'm in Milan, the heart of the Italian fashion, and I'm an extremely good company with Adria, Graada, CEO of the Prada group. Now, Andrea took over three years ago, stepped into the Prada shoes, and at that time, the group has grown quarter by quarter. Miu Amir is arguably now the hottest brand in luxury, and you just bought Versace. So, well, welcome. Welcome and happier here. Now, Prada is more than 100 years old. What's the deal? DNA O Prado in short. You know, Prada is a unique brand.

It's, Prada is a point of view. Prada is an opinion. Prada is culture. Prada is totally winded in certain cultural pillars such as art, architecture, literature, and has always an opinion. And how do you see that in the brand? You can see that in a brand, you can see that in a brand in any aspect, in any location, in anything we do. There is nothing which is not thought.

There is nothing which you can spot details which are out of place. There is nothing that we do by chance and not linked to a thought and to an opinion about what's going on in the society. So what's constant and what is changing in the realm? Nothing is changing. Nothing is changing. Obviously, the world is changing. The trends are changing.

Fashion is changing, but the brand is always that same thing. How is fashion changing now? How is it actually gives it? You know, I think this industry is upside down. What does that mean? This industry has gone through a couple of decades of constant growth. Let's go to any textbook. That's not possible.

That's not feasible. And I think we were all happy. And this industry has grown by three times. four times, five times in the last only 10, 15 years. So I think that now we have to go through a period of normalization. We have to go through a period where maybe we've been a little bit spoiled. So we have to go back to certain aspects of the business. So what's normalization? What's the new normal?

I think it's the all-normal. This is what we have to look for. It's not the new normal. It's the all-normal. Lachshary is exclusivity, selectivity, is value, is dreams, its experience, its hospitality.

This is what we have to do, and this is what it has always been. So how are you adapting to the new? The new old? You know, I can tell you that there are certain things which are very visible. We have gone through a refurbishing of a huge store in Hong Kong, where we would have followed our usual logic of one floor for men, one floor for women, one floor for accessories. Instead, we have decided to allow one entire floor to be an apartment.

to be a place which is totally dressed by our creative directors. So it's a unique spot where you can spend time, where you can have friends for dinner, for lunch, spend time for your birthday. And we're happy about that. And we're happy to offer you very special. passion, exclusive products. And this is the all normal.

Right. You talk about change. At the same time, I hear you talk about the importance of patience. Just how does patient play in? You know, I think that the winning brands are those brands where there is a constant positive tension between brand management and business.

creative direction. And this means patience. This means listening to each other. This means debating. This means taking the proper time to take decisions on how and where the brands is going and where creativity is going. And this is long term. Cannot be short term.

In which brands in the world are you seeing that creative tension? I can talk about my brands. and we have it. We have it. We have long-term solutions. We don't have a creative director coming in and going out. We have long-term commitments. And that's the only thing that the consumer will pay in the long-term.

Then you can have a success here, excess-X there, but that's short-term. Talking of creativity, you started, Mew from scratch, right, in 93, and it's an extraordinary brand growing very, very fast. Why is it so successful? You know, Miumu has, I always say Niumu is an inclusive brand. Miu is women only. It's imprinted in a young lady, but it's inclusive. You don't feel wrong in wearing Mew

on a Monday morning or on a Saturday night. You don't feel wrong being 25 years old and 50 years old. You don't feel wrong with Mew. You say that it's rebellious. It's out of the schemes. It's out of the fashion logic. How large can a brand and still be rebellious? out of the fashion.

You know, I think it's, if we look to ladies-only brands, there are brands which are four or five times bigger than us. So I'm not alluding that we have to be there, but there is space to grow. But what is important is that we have somehow attracted a lot of brands in our field. We don't have to move from our field. typically you see these three cycles do you think we'll see that's where

you know this is a five-year cycle which has lasted longer than what we expected and we need to be ready for normalization we need to be ready for normal growth and you know you're never ready for that but we have to be ready for that we don't have to be complacent it's a tough we have to be pretty masochistic What are the tools you use to be masochistic?

You know, it's no. My usual answer is no. We're offering you another store. No. We're offering you this opportunity? No. So this is what we do. We had 170 stores three years ago.

I think we got 176 today with the kind of growth we had. So I prefer to enlarve certain stores, but I don't want new stores. stores. In five years time, maybe we will have 180 stores, 185 stores. But that's it. And that gives you the idea that we have not opened the gates to success. We have not gone in in new categories. We're not open to men. It's us. This is what we are. This is who we are. And these are who we want to talk to. Tell me about emotions and dreams. It's all about emotions and dreams. If I'm, you know, I'm always, and this is happening since I was selling white goods. Can you imagine? Because I have known you for 20 years.

And you have talked about this all the time. And this is it. If I'm able to tell you a story that. make sense. If I'm able to get your emotions going, it's much easier to have your hand going to the pocket and getting the wallet out. But I need to be absolutely credible,

and I have to be into the brand, and I have to engage you. And this is everything we're trying to do. Where did you learn storytelling? You know, I think it's, I think that in management... Like, did you have a grandfather who were telling you a very high as when you were...

If I take my father, my father probably was saying five words in a day. So it was not in a storyteller. I can tell you that there are two things in management which I particularly trust. One thing is that people and emotions are the vehicle to everything. The second is, when you're able to manage, the mix, your profit and loss is solid.

And these two things go much together, because when you're telling a story, you need to understand if you're going towards an enterprise or if you want to dream of 100,000 euros. And it's not anymore how you're dressed, how you're entering a store, who you are, because I mean tech has totally revolutionized the society and how people are coming into stores.

And sometimes you can be really misinterpreating what's happening in the store right now. Now, the world is changing and the media picture is changing, and we've got social media and we got attention spans like ants. How does the storytelling art change? You know, I think there are two things. First of all, when people are asking me how we are using artificial intelligence.

The main part we're using artificial intelligence is in our CRM. Customer relationship management. Yes, we are working like hell, hours and hours, to really understand which message to which people and how to personalize that message to that person in that moment. and the more you're able to do that,

the more business becomes hot. Okay, so I'm coming into your store. You know my background. You know what I bought with you. But even before you're coming to my store. Okay. That's where everything starts. What do you sell me?

What dream do you sell me? So, you know, I think artificial intelligence today allows you to go into your data and really what I always say look alike. So you bought these things to me. I'm coming out with this new drop, this new package, these new ideas. And I think these new ideas have these characteristics. How can I match these things?

And how can I match how hot you are in that moment to come into my brand and buy? And when I'm able to connect this, wow, I have conversion rates which I've never seen in my life. Well, I intend to buy a shirt in Milan, so let's see whether it's going to be a prognor shirt or not. Let's do. Where does he fit in with quiet luxury? You know, I don't know if it is what is quite... What is quite luxury? You know, I'm not able to answer to this question.

I don't think, I mean, there is brands which are... The real thing is how capable is a brand. I mean, we're seeing brands. What is it? What is it? For a brand to be credible over time? You know, it's what I was saying at the beginning. It's that respect of the brand with a creative job which makes sense at that moment.

How do you get young people attracted to the brands? I think that this is the biggest concern, the biggest opportunity, and it's a great amount of our job. out of our job. We're out today, exactly today, with a re-nilion period, which is this. So, as you know, Prada has been known for its nylon products since 80s. Then sustainably comes and we have recreated a nylon, which we call re-nilon, which is totally be sustainable, and anything you look at, you can read something about that fiber. We are out with the communication today, which is around the education. around pollution in oceans, nylon and plastics.

And we are in our stores with a completely and unique collection of Rhinelan, which we have linked to a communication to the younger generations. So using those media, attracting those kind of, let's call influencers, but also having certain price points. And it's working really well.

Is sustainability dropping down on people's preference lists? Not on young. Not on young people. Not at all. For young people, you are, you don't have to think about that. You are in that sustainable world. You are in digital. You don't have to think about it.

Then if we go in government and politics, maybe yes. Moving on, Vasakshi. Iconic has been owned by Americans for seven years now, and you are buying it back to Italy. Why did you buy it? It's an opportunity. We were not out for acquisitions. We feel that the two engines we had can take us somewhere close to 10 billion euros as an ambition.

What's the DNA of Vasace? Versace is something we like because again it was born in culture. It was born in this mania, Grecia, has this Greek, ancient Greek influence

on Italian culture. And it's winded in pop. Versace invented glamour. There's such invented pop. Versace invented the great models.

There's such invented music in the shows. So it's this spin which is very different from our portfolio but it's in our DNA that we love that everything goes

and starts from culture. So when you have these things with glamour and the things you mentioned and you take Donatella Vasatchi out of it, does the brand still contain it? I think that this Donatella Vasatch is not out. It's part of our team in giving an image and networking, which we love. This is the first. Second, I think that Versace has incredible long roots that you need to respect that you need to keep as a cent with that kind of tension and being proper in

2006. I just read an African proverb this morning that if you got long roots you could take more wind. I agree. Now what did you see in Versacea that other people didn't see? I think that many people have seen what we have seen,

but we are ready to take the tackle, we're ready to take the challenge. It's not an easy job. Has been a little bit mismanaged as a brand, not as a business, and we're ready to go. And we feel that we know how to do a, brand business. We are patient. We don't think that we have to be successful tomorrow morning, but we need to plant seeds, we need to nurture, we need to have the right people in place,

and the team is ready to go. So that is something that we have done pretty quickly. And you have a new creative officer, Pizomelier? Yeah. And this is, again, again, this has to be a really longer relationship. How do you think he will change the expression of the brand? We will see. We will see. Around creativity, there is never anything that is already designed or written down.

Is there like a uniform creative process across the brands? How does a creative process work? No. I think that there is people who are, working and taking a lot of times to prepare. There are people who are impetus last minute. There is people who are doing things and crashing them, they're redoing things and then crushing them,

they're redoing things and crushing them. And finally, the last day, they have what they want. So are Italians more creative than other people? I wouldn't say so. But if we go statistically, for sure since 1500, I think we have been pretty creative. Yeah, both in art and music. You mentioned 10 billion. Why is it important for you to grow the highest of the total group?

You know, we have... You had a steamp at the LVMH group. Are you trying to recreate a big compromise? Absolutely no. and the way we work, the way we are organized, it's pretty different. But we're not in a niche business. So we need some scale. And we think that on one side being very distinctive with our brands

and having a certain kind of scale allows us to protect ourselves. This is what we think. How do you think about pricing when something is hot and is tempted to price it up? Just how do you think about it? Because I'm seeing some brands and I'm just amazed by the price points. My first answer would be I don't care. That is, am I able to get you your heart, your heart, your passion, your dreams, your emotion somewhere.

If I'm able to do that, full stop. Each one of us is spending, I don't want to say money, could be money, could be time in so many different things we love. On a bottle of wine, I mean, let's discuss it, or on an incredible room in front of the ocean, there are many different ways we can spend our money. And the issue is once you talk about price,

it's evident I made a mistake in whatever I'm doing in luxury. What do you mean? I mean that you should never talk about pricing because you should be so happy that you give me your credit card without even asking what is the price. This is what we have to do.

Yeah, it happens with some people, doesn't happen with everybody, right? Sure. And maybe, maybe this is why I'm saying all normal, maybe this industry has gone and it will be too far out. This industry has lost one consumer out of five in the last four years, three years. It's a lot, eh? How is the dynamics, I mean, how are the dynamics in China changing?

I don't know if they are changing. For sure, we have gone through, this unbelievable evolution. Then North America stopped. Consumer digested. And then we have seen a kind of new dynamics, new positive dynamics. Same thing is happening in China today. So maybe we had gone a little bit too far out. Two years of digestions. And now we are seeing a kind of plateau and slightly positive dynamic. And I would say that even because of the wars, Europe today is the animal or is the region

that is digesting the great growth had. Europe is by definition a touristic market. And today, I mean, Americas are coming because they think the war is in Europe. Asians cannot come because, I mean, it's so difficult today to fly over east-west. So Europe, I think, will have a little bit of normalization. Any reflections on the future of Europe? Complicated.

I mean, today Europe is in the middle of... It's in the middle of... It's the week in between big powers. I mean, it's unbelievable to see that our economics, our macros, it's probably the slowest, but we have the heaviest currency today. I mean, it's complicated. I don't think I am the person that can tell you what will happen macro to Europe, but for sure what I can tell you from our point of view that I hope that we are still able to demonstrate to the world that coming to Europe

make sense in a touristic manner. But today, Asians are really, I mean, compared to 2019, probably we have 50% of what it was. Compared to 2022-23, Americans are probably

minus 20, minus 25 compared to that. So I think that we need to rethink. Move on to leadership. How would people define? your leadership style. Mine?

Yeah. Ah. You know, one day I write a book. I don't usually read I don't usually read business books at all. But there was

a lady that was giving us a kind of session in the United States and I read her book. And she was talking about resonant leadership, which I love.

What is it? Which is convincing your mind and convincing your heart that we are all in a journey with a very clear mission and allowing everyone to express to their best. This is what I think I'm doing every day. Are you as immersed in Prada as you were in? Luxorica in Italy. No, I think more.

ABMH. Why? Because we are in a long generation evolution phase. So we have a very solid founders mindset, very strong. And on the other side, we also need to prepare the company for the long term. And what is fantastic by this Italian founders and family in Italy that they have said, this is the route, never, never seen in Italy.

This is the root. It's very clear Loretzo will be the leader in the long term. Andrea is helping this journey and everyone knows it. And this is what we're trying to do. And how is it to be a leader than when people know that you are kind of the bridge between generations? I don't care. Either you are or you're not. And I don't think I have any issues with that.

Why would you use a kid to take this job? You know, I know the fact. since 20 plus years. We have built the brand-a-brand in iWeir from scratch to over a billion. It's a big number, eh, for eyewear. And I love the way Mr. Bertelli was working on the products and collections. I love the way Mr. Bertelli was working on the products and collections. I love the way the spin on certain image events and coming into these places and looking on how Mrs. Mujer was working. So I always love them.

So you go to know them through the eyewear? Yeah. Atluxedic. Yeah. And we knew each other very well. And we had other opportunities to come to work together earlier. but somehow I always said that I was not ready for that kind of cultural landscape that Prada group was.

Then Lorenzo joined in 2017-18 and we had this conversation again in 2022 and a lot of things started to change, such as the way the brands were. were much more clearly positioned, a completely new mission on sustainability, a completely new mission on the consumer, and cultural behaviors in the group. So we were really evolving in that way of working and way of relationship between people in the company. And I have seen it and I said I'm ready to help.

Control the relationships. What was changing there? Prada group, as you know, and it's very well known in the industry, has been quite a hard group, which is fine, which I like. But then I love to allow people to express themselves. and I didn't think at that time that was feasible. When I joined, I thought it was feasible and I was right. So how are decisions made?

It's fine. If you participate to certain meetings, you say, these guys are crazy. The debate is strong, but I love it. It's real expression. And can even last 10 days of you need to be strong in this

in this group and once you understand the logics it's really nothing personal not as the Americans say frequently nothing personal and then they kill you but it's

it's more a it's really a kind of opinion debate Does that time of decision-making lead to better results, you think? I think so. Why? Because takes the best. It's not a lower compromise. It's an upper compromise. Compromise is one of the most fantastic behaviors of human beings, but it has to be in the upper side. How are you a different deal now compared to a man you were younger?

How old are you know? You are 60. You're in your prime. You know, it's, I've been lucky. It's 25 years I've been a CEO of public companies. And today I'm quicker. Unfortunately, in so many meetings, I already know what people are going to tell me.

But this is part of the age. Do you still listen to them? I think I'm very good in listening to what they're not telling me. The other day, I finished up a conversation with one person and we stayed together for half an hour and I was saying, I see you strange these days and he started talking. At the end of the meeting, I say, thank you, especially for the things you have not told me now.

What are the kind of things that people don't tell you? you know sometimes people are not always ready to confront on tensions on problems on issues while it's so easy to say okay we have a problem i don't care where it comes from but we are a problem let's face it let's understand and let's be quick let's debate as much as we want but then Let's be quick. I hate that formal slide management. I cannot stand it anymore. So I introduced certain, in this last year,

certain rules, so you cannot come with a budget with more than 10 pages. And I love the guy, very funny, he came with 10 A3 pages. So he could light more things in. But this is what I love now. Do you not have overhead slides, like presentations? We have. But short, please. We can cut at least the first 15 minutes.

I don't need to go to Adam and Eve again every time. In what other ways have you developed as a leader, do you think? You know, I think that I still think that energy beats experience. and I want to prove it every day. So these things that if you don't have an experience, you cannot hold that position, I don't believe it. But on the other side, I have that experience today. I mean, being 25 years as a CEO

where every bloody day you're seeing your result of the day before, you learn so many things. and I try to use it as much as I can. Where does energy come from, you think? I think I'm pretty masochistic. So, you know, we're having a great sale yesterday and I say, oh, shit, how do we come next year? So I'm a little bit masochistic, but I do my best to celebrate.

That's one of my issues. somebody introduced me to the concept of high agency people so people who figure out where they go and they are forceful and they use technology to get there and it's just struck me lately how big difference is between people who actually do things and the rest you know i think that i think that technology is there i think that there is more technology than what we are able to to use today. So my constant mission is to make the culture of the company evolve. The more we're able to evolve, the more we become executors.

And able to use all the technology available. How are you changing the corporate culture? My problem. You know, my desire is that one day I ask to people, what has changed? everything and then I say when I don't know so it's what I was saying before it's a self-expression this is what I'm trying to do every day what is need to be done allow people to have real power on things allow people to do things allow people to make some mistakes allow people to

give their opinions. I love when people debates, then I say, let's take a decision. If you're not able to take a decision, I will take a decision. This is what I love. What should we wear

this summer? Prada or Mubu? What kind of style? You know, again, Prada is one thing and Miu is a different thing. With Prada, we have decided to go we have taken a decision

to go with the color so we have decided that for us this summer is white and we have gone all in and this will be very visible and why is the summer white you can ask this question to Mrs. Mewch

not to me and how risky is it for a firm to be all white I don't care. It's not risky. This is our life. We got, I mean, we have a point of view. It's never risky. It's risky to follow the trends. That's risky. I guess it's less risky to be white than pink. You know, I think it's, I think it's, you need to always, in your brand, in your positioning, in your identity, I need to surprise you. I need to surprise you. I know. need to comfort you and we need to do something new to be in there. Well, you're not very white, yes, so I will see this summer.

What do you read? I read basically novels and I go back rereading things frequently. Such as, I am rereading the metamorphosis of Kafka today. And I have just finished to reread the castle. I think that these guys had understood our contemporary world very well. And it's fantastic to read them again. I mean, waking up as a cockroach in the bed. Yeah, but I mean, this is what is happening to the society.

Yeah. How do you relax? So easy. This is my very real talent. As soon as I'm out of here, I'm out of this. Black and white. And what do you do then? I swim.

I eat. I travel. And I used to spend a lot of time with my family. But my three kids are grown. So I try to organize things so that they accept to do that with us. Do you cook? In my next life. Right. That will be a great chef. And what are the other things you've been doing your next life? You know, I think that life has become much longer than before. So I think that my next life is behind the

corner. So I would love to continue to work heavily fewer days and my dream would love to be to mentor young fantastic CEOs

and what would be you advice to these young people be patient be patient this generation is not patient I love them but they're not patient.

Thank you.