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Esprit loses its chief product officer following reorganisation
Esprit is on the hunt for a new creative director, following the announcement that Rafael Pastor is leaving his role as chief product officer at the fashion chain at the end of this week, on 17 May. Pastor wants to pursue new challenges outside Esprit, said the company in a press release, but the recent restructure of the company’s top team could be also a reason for his decision.
Pastor joined Esprit from Inditex at the end of 2013. His departure follows that of Manuel Martinez, who also joined the company from Inditex and served as CEO of Esprit until March, when he was replaced by former New Look chief Anders Kristiansen.
At Esprit, Pastor wanted to optimise the price-performance ratio of the collections and win back the younger generation, as he explained in the spring of 2015 in an interview with FashionNetwork.com.
As chief product officer, he led the Esprit product divisions globally and made great contributions to the business by improving the product development processes, bringing key production functions back in-house, and creating a strong category management structure.
But although he had a wealth of expertise in the fast-fashion sector, Pastor was unable to counterbalance the challenging market conditions and Esprit’s poor reputation.
The clothing company is searching for a new chief product officer alongside incoming CEO Anders Kristiansen, according to the release. During the transition period until a new CPO is appointed, the heads of womenswear, menswear and global license/product will assume responsibility for their respective product divisions, reporting directly to Kristiansen.
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