Esprit Holdings

Esprit Holdings Limited is a global publicly traded retail company incorporated in Bermuda,[1] with headquarters in North Point, Hong Kong, and further major locations in Ratingen, Germany; Amsterdam, Netherlands; and New York City.[2][3][4] The company offers an assortment of clothing, accessories, footwear, jewelry, and housewares under the Esprit label.[5]

Esprit operates in more than 30 markets in Europe, Asia and America. It has about 20 partner stores in Southeast Asia and about 50 in Latin America. In Europe, the brand has 160 retail stores and approximately 400 franchise stores. They also have two pop-up stores in the United States in Los Angeles and New York.

History

Early years

Founded in 1968, Esprit was the first clothing line established by Susie and Doug Tompkins (also co-founders of The North Face) and was initially sold out of a VW bus, with the Tompkins' San Francisco-based apartment serving as the brand's headquarters.[7]

In 1979, Esprit brought on graphic designer John Casado—who designed the branding trademark of the first Macintosh computer—to develop and design the brand's stencil-effect logo.[8][9] In 1985, the brand debuted its legendary "Real People Campaign," photographed by photographer Oliviero Toscani and featuring Esprit employees, architects, and designers, among them Ettore Sottsass, the Italian architect and founder of the Memphis Group.[10][11] Sottsass was also commissioned to build Esprit's European headquarters in Düsseldorf, Germany, as well as set the visual direction for the brand's retail stores.[12] Other noteworthy architects and designers who contributed to the Esprit brand include Antonio Citterio and Norman Foster.[13]

Transitional period

Throughout the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Esprit experienced significant and rapid financial growth in multiple markets outside of the United States. At its highest point, Esprit Holdings’ market capitalization was over US$20 billion. Since the 2008 financial crisis, Esprit Holdings has faced a series of financial and market-share setbacks.[14][15] With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Esprit gradually closed all stores in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Macau.[16]

Brand comeback

William Pak was appointed as executive director and Chief Operating Officer in September 2021[17] and became interim CEO in October 2021, and subsequently named permanent CEO of Esprit in March 2022.[18] In April 2022, Esprit reentered the Asian market with the opening of a long-term pop-up store located in Seoul, South Korea and followed by another pop-up store in Hong Kong in the summer of 2022.[16] By the fall of 2022, after five years of losses, the company returned to profitability with a $48.5 million profit on $1 billion in revenues.[19]

Ana Andjelic was appointed as the Chief Brand Officer in December 2022 to oversee the brand's creative and marketing teams.[20][21] In 2023—and following the brand's reintroduction to New York City with a short-term pop-up on Prince Street — Esprit unveiled an experiential store space on Greene Street in

type	Public
traded as	sehk: 330
foundation	1968 in San Francisco, California, U.S.
location	Bermuda (Seat); North Point, Hong Kong (HQ); Ratingen, Germany (Co-HQ); New York City, U.S. (Creative HQ)
key people	William Pak (CEO)
num employees	approximately 2,230 employees worldwide
industry	Retail, Fashion
areas served	Worldwide
products	women's clothing, men's clothing, accessories, shoes, body wear, kids wear, glasses, fragrance
revenue	7,064M HK$ (2022)
homepage	http://esprit.com

History

Early years

Transitional period

Brand comeback

Product lines

See also

External links

References