2020年经济学人 Prada的复兴之路--拉夫·西蒙斯担任共同创意总监(2)（在线收听）

Both Ms Prada and her husband, Patrizio Bertelli, the group’s chief executive, have strong personalities. They also own 80% of Prada. For the arrangement to work, the trio “must get on very well”, says Luca Solca of Bernstein, a research firm. It helps that they have known each other since 2005, when Mr Simons worked for Jil Sander, a German label then part of the Prada empire.

普拉达女士和她的丈夫、该集团首席执行官帕特里齐奥?贝尔泰利个性都很强。他们还拥有普拉达80%的股份。伯恩斯坦研究公司的卢卡?索尔卡认为，要想让这种安排奏效，三人“必须相处得非常好”。他们自2005年就相识了，这对他们的关系很有帮助，西蒙斯曾在吉尔·桑达（被普拉达集团收购的德国品牌）工作。

A good rapport alone will not guarantee Prada’s revival. That, Mr Solca notes, requires undoing past mistakes. Some, like its drab online presence and recent uninventiveness, which Mr Simons is to tackle, are being reversed. Other errors, notably efforts to narrow its offering and to ape rivals like Hermès and Chanel, and their high prices, have yet to be.

仅仅良好的关系并不能保证普拉达的复兴。索尔卡先生指出，需要纠正过去的错误。有些东西，比如其单调乏味的网络形象，以及西蒙斯将要解决的近期缺乏创造力的问题，正在反向发展。其它错误，尤其是努力缩小其供应范围、模仿爱马仕和香奈儿等竞争对手，以及它们的高价，还有待改进。

With all luxury firms infected this week by the new coronavirus, which hurts their lucrative Chinese sales, it is hard to discern what investors make of Mr Simons’s arrival. Those holding out hope of an acquisition may at least comfort themselves that, at 4% of LVMH’s market value, Prada remains a tasty morsel—which a talented haute-couturier like Mr Simons makes tastier still.

本周，所有奢侈品公司都受到了新型冠状病毒的影响，其在中国利润丰厚的订单大大削弱，因此很难看出投资者对西蒙斯的到来有何看法。那些对收购抱有希望的人至少可以聊表安慰，因为普拉达的市值只占路威酩轩集团市值的4%，但它仍然是一块美味的小蛋糕。