Diesel CEO Eraldo Poletto to depart

Eraldo Poletto, Diesel’s CEO of seven months, is set to exit the company for “personal reasons”.

Poletto initially joined the OTB-owned brand in January 2022 as CEO of North America and was promoted to the CEO role from July 1, succeeding Massimo Piombini.

A spokesperson for Diesel told FashionUnited that Polette “for personal reasons has decided to return to the US, where he has lived for several years with his family”.

The statement noted that he would continue to “collaborate” with the Italian luxury brand.

A successor has not yet been named.

Prior to Diesel, Poletto served in an array of leadership roles within the luxury fashion industry, including holding the position of CEO and brand president of Tapestry’s Stuart Weitzman from 2018 to 2020.

He was also CEO of Furla from 2010 to 2016 before moving to Salvatore Ferragamo for the same position between 2016 and 2018.

Successor yet to be named

Poletto’s departure follows a repositioning and reorganisation of Diesel’s retail and wholesale businesses, and a rebranding carried out by its creative director Glenn Martens, who was appointed to the role in October 2020.

The move was triggered by declining sales and a filing for bankruptcy in the US in 2019, with the “brand evolution” strategy later unveiled in OTB Group’s 2021 final report.

The conglomerate, which also owns the likes of Jil Sander, Maison Margiela and Marni, said it was aiming to reposition the brand in the alternative luxury segment targeting trend-orientated international customers, a mission it has seemingly been successful in so far.

Diesel is one of OTB’s core portfolio brands, representing 45 percent of its total revenues in 2021, with the group’s president Renzo Rosso also recently telling WWD that he expects the group to continue to post double-digit growth in 2023.

The company’s goal is to reach revenues of between 2.4 billion euros and 2.5 billion euros in 2024.