‘It’s a new era’: Fashion brands are bringing new leadership to deal with a changing world
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From Eileen Fisher and Lively to Gap and Under Armor, dozens of apparel brand heads have stepped down in the past two months.
There have also been peaceful and long-planned transitions, like Eileen Fisher’s retirement after running the eponymous brand since the 1980s. Others are more abrupt, like the abrupt departures of Gap’s Sonia Syngal and The RealReal’s Julie Wainwright. In any case, the massive changes brought to the industry by the pandemic, the recession, the crisis over diversity and racial justice, and the growing threat of climate change have forced the industry to see new blood as brands look for new things. The time has ripened for it to be taken over. solution.
For Fischer, who founded the brand in 1984 and announced her retirement in August, the environment has always been at the forefront of her mind. Her brand has inspired her to embrace many of the sustainable programs the brand is now adding years before it became popular, such as used clothing collection. He cited the move toward more diversity and inclusion as an indicator that the industry is in a state of extreme flux.
“I have always tried to stay in the pulse of what is needed now. [and] You have to ask yourself where you can contribute the most and where you need more insight and different ways,” Fisher said. “This may be a founder trait: to look at the trees and the forest without ego to identify what is needed now to support the health of the company and the well-being of the community. ”
Fisher said it was the right thing to step down now that he has a solid plan in place focused on sustainability and a successor who he believes understands the brand’s core values. Fisher’s successor Lisa Williams, who previously served as Patagonia’s chief product officer, has been working with Fisher for the past month to ensure a smooth transition.
“Now is the right time for me and for me to have a CEO. [the brand] As a community and a key component of my responsible transition,” Fisher said. We need leaders with deeply held and shared values.”
A smooth transition is also what Michelle Cordeiro Grant, founder of US-based D2C underwear brand Lively, is aiming for when he steps down as CEO. She will remain as her advisor until March 2023 and will continue to serve as the face of her Lively while her replacement Christine Di Cunzolo assumes her new role.
For Cordeiro Grant, the move was motivated by the need for someone with marketing experience who could help Lively grow internationally. The brand was acquired in 2019 by underwear company Wacoal America, where Dikunzoro was vice president of marketing.
Cordeiro Grant is an experienced spokesperson for start-ups and growing companies and has been building Lively since 2015. Lively, she said, was built by going on tour and making personal claims to both investors and the press. Now that Lively is established and has new leadership, she said she will be looking to launch new ventures, especially in her Web3 space.
“What I’m working on is putting myself at the web3 table,” said Cordeiro Grant. “At web2, we had very few female founders. But at the start of web3, we have an opportunity to do it differently.”
Major apparel brands will continue to lose their CEOs for the rest of 2022. Adidas CEO Kaspar Rorsted is set to step down early next year, and his PVH Corp executives, including Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, as well as leaders Stitch Fix and Unbound Group, are due to step down before then. Even non-brand fashion bodies are going crazy, with British Fashion Council chairman Stephanie Fair stepping down this week.
“It’s just a new era,” Fisher said. “In one sense, it is a long-awaited and powerful time to raise awareness and increase commitment to move forward together. It’s a very difficult time to build
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