Kering is the parent company of the luxury brands Gucci, Saint Laurent, and Balenciaga.
Kering is a French luxury-goods group whose portfolio includes fashion houses, jewelry brands, and eyewear businesses. Gucci is its largest and best-known brand, while Saint Laurent and Balenciaga give the group additional strength in high-end fashion. The group’s brand portfolio and global sales have made it a significant publicly traded company by market capitalization.
The company was founded as Pinault in 1963 by François Pinault as a timber-trading business. It later moved into retail and luxury goods, acquired Gucci Group, and adopted the name Kering in 2013. The name change reflected the company’s concentration on luxury and its international ambitions.
Kering is frequently confused with LVMH because both are French luxury conglomerates. They are separate companies with different brand portfolios: for example, Louis Vuitton belongs to LVMH, not Kering.