Chanel Picks Industry Outsider to Lead French Fashion House

It’s relatively rare for luxury companies to hire top executives from outside the industry, which has traditionally favored insiders or—in the case of the many family-run fashion houses—scions of the business founders. One notable exception with parallels to Ms. Nair’s move: Estee Lauder Cos. tapped Fabrizio Freda, a snack-food executive at Procter & Gamble Co. , to become its chief executive in 2009.

In swapping fast-moving consumer goods for luxury, Ms. Nair joins a sector that analysts say is poised for rapid post-pandemic growth. Bain & Co. forecasts that global luxury revenues will rise from an estimated €283 billion, equivalent to $320 billion, this year to around €370 billion, or $418 billion, in 2025.

Chanel, whose lines include fashion, fragrances, jewelry and skin care, was the world’s sixth largest luxury group by revenue in 2020, according to Deloitte, with sales of $10.1 billion. Like other big luxury groups, Chanel’s sales took a hit from the pandemic, declining 17.6% in 2020 relative to the year before. That compared with an 11% decline for LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and a 17.5% decline at Kering SA .

A newcomer to the luxury business, Ms. Nair will be based in London, where Chanel has had its global headquarters since 2018. She has spent three decades at Unilever, most recently as the Anglo-Dutch company’s chief human resources officer, and is also a nonexecutive board member of British telecoms giant BT Group PLC.

Write to Trefor Moss at [email protected]