The Kooples powers up organisation, targets Asia expansion

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Sep 15, 2017

Parisian mixed label The Kooples has powered up its organisational structure, paving the way for a new expansion phase. In the last year, it has appointed new managers in key organisational positions, both as a result of personnel turnover and by creating new posts, aware that it needs new muscle to realise its ambitious plans.

In an interview to FashionNetwork Premium, The Kooples' General Manager and co-founder Nicolas Dreyfus said this area of improvement had been identified when the label was approached by private equity firms in 2015, even though negotiations were eventually fruitless. "They were a great help for us! [The firms] pointed the finger in particular to our organisation, and a need for hiring," said Dreyfus.

In the last twelve months, the label has added to its staff and appointed new managers. Starting with Information Systems Director Arnaud Fritz, and with Eric Eisenberg, Organisation and Strategy Director. The latter is a new post, Eisenberg being a former sales manager who then became a consultant, and was formerly in charge of the Alma Consulting Group, the Progrès du Management association and more recently of the Paris office for Riskdata.

Two other key new roles have also been filled. A year ago, Elodie Barbé was appointed Marketing and Communications Director. After graduating from the HEC business school in 2005, Barbé spent her entire career at Cartier, and is now in charge of a new, fifteen-people team. "We didn't really have a manager in charge of this department, nor did we have a properly organised team, it is a whole new approach for us," said Nicolas Dreyfus.

Finally, another new position was created last spring, that of the president of The Kooples' Asian subsidiary. The choice fell on Laetitia Mergui, who will spearhead the label's expansion through a partnership with a Chinese group, as we recently reported. A former lawyer with the Paris bar, Mergui has been based in Hong Kong for the last ten years, and was for five years the Director of Operations for Balmain Asia.