From designer departures to executive shakeups, 2015 saw its fair share of industry comings and goings. In addition to accelerated turnover in the luxury space (at Gucci, Balenciaga, Lanvin and Christian Dior), two of the fashion industry’s biggest names — Donna Karan and Ralph Lauren — stepped down from the helms of their namesake companies. Add to that list unexpected C-suite shuffles at Saks Fifth Avenue, Iconix Brand Group and Wolverine World Wide Inc.’s Merrell, and you’ve got quite the year of executive moving and shaking.
Here, FN recaps the 13 biggest shoe-biz executive shifts of 2015.
1. September 29, 2015: Ralph Lauren sheds CEO title at namesake company.
2. July 29, 2015: Balenciaga and Alexander Wang part ways.
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3. August 6, April 13, March 24 2015: Iconix’s CEO, COO and CFO abruptly leave the firm.
4. April 14, 2015: After 20 years at Ugg, Connie Rishwain announced her departure.
5. May 4, 2015 (effective Oct. 1): Gene McCarthy leaves Merrell in May, joins Asics in October.
6. April 2015: Marigay McKee exits Saks, Mark Metrick and Tracy Margolies join the company.
7. January 2015: Alessandro Michele takes the creative reins at Gucci.
8. July 14, 2015: Jill Granoff resigns as CEO of Vince.
9. November 2, 2015: Christopher Suarez exits Nicholas Kirkwood after 10 years with the company.
10. July 2015: Debbie King leaves Bloomingdale’s.
11. March 11, 2015: Camuto Group names Alex Del Cielo CEO and Louise Camuto chief creative officer.
12. October 2015: Raf Simons exits Dior; Alber Elbaz leaves Lanvin.
13. June 30, 2015: Donna Karan steps down from her namesake company.
[Editor’s note: This story first appeared in print in FN’s 12/21/15 issue.]
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