A few months ago I mentioned that Gucci sales fell 3.3% in the first quarter. Well, we've got some better news for the Italian brand today. Bloomberg reports that Gucci, which is the biggest money maker for Paris-based retailer PPR SA, reported an 11 percent increase in second-quarter sales.

Like other companies who have reported lately, Gucci is still vulnerable. Some say that Gucci has lost its identity and some of its cachet since its astronomical rise in the 1990s under the able hands of Tom Ford and Domenico De Sole. For Gucci part of the problem is also that sales at U.S. luxury department stores are also in decline and much of Gucci's sales happen at those stores. Gucci's current strategy is to hit the lower end of the market and that also gives some analysts cause for worry since it is this part of the market that is most vulnerable in a down economy.