A year before the Balenciaga scandal sent shockwaves through its parent company, the Kering Group, executives ignored an offer from Gucci heiress Alexandra Zarini to work together to prevent child sexual abuse.
Leaders of Zarini’s charity emailed representatives of Kering and Gucci last October, hoping to form a partnership to crack down on social media images and the use of children in campaigns of fashion.
The Kering group, headed by François-Henri Pinault, is a French fashion powerhouse: it owns both Balenciaga and Gucci, as well as Bottega Venetta, Saint Laurent and Alexander McQueen, and is worth 65 billion euros.
The company has released no statement on the Balenciaga scandal involving the use of bondage-style bears in one photo shoot and child pornography legal documents in another. The second photo shoot also featured a book by a Belgian artist whose work depicts naked, castrated toddlers.
Neither Zarini nor the Gucci family have had any business involvement with the fashion brand since the 1990s, but she has sought to partner with the brand founded by her great-grandfather.
Gucci declined the offer and complained about his use of his family’s name in the charity’s marketing materials. The leaders of the Kering group did not respond to his requests.
Alexandra Zarini, whose great-grandfather Guccio founded the Gucci fashion house. She told DailyMail.com in an interview that her interactions with the Kering Group demonstrated the continued need for the industry to do more to protect children.
On November 23 of this year, after the Balenciaga scandal broke, representatives of the Alexandra Gucci Children’s Foundation sent a new partnership offer.
Again, representatives of the Kering group chose not to respond.
“My foundation had approached Kering and Gucci on this subject as a whole in 2021.
“As a survivor, I myself was very concerned about the safety of children in the fashion industry, but also about the safety of young girls.
“I was very concerned about the safety of children and their exposure to these campaigns via social media.
“A global partnership for the prevention of child sexual abuse was offered to Kering – they didn’t seem to see the need or any effort on their part,” Alexandra told DailyMail.com in an interview.
Kering representatives did not respond to inquiries, but a Gucci spokesperson told DailyMail.com the company declined the offer due to the trademark dispute.
A global partnership for the prevention of child sexual abuse was proposed to Kering – they didn’t seem to see the need for it
“In order to protect the distinctiveness of its trademarks, Gucci was unable to enter into any form of collaboration,” they said.
Gucci’s corporate lawyers have repeatedly asked Zarini to stop using his family’s name to market his children’s protection charity, “so as not to create confusion in the public domain between activities of the Foundation and the Gucci brand and its social impact and philanthropic activities”.
Zarini, however, saw it as an opportunity to work with the company to combat child sexual abuse in the fashion industry.
She was “disgusted” by the Balenciaga campaign this month, which she says demonstrates her deepest concerns about the use of children in campaigns.
‘I was completely outraged. I was devastated and disgusted by everything I saw. I couldn’t believe it was a campaign for Balenciaga. When I saw this, I thought “this is just awful”.
“It’s a big fashion brand and it’s very close to my last name. It’s totally unacceptable.
