German apparel retailer Gerry Weber appoints Rena Marx, Peter Krosta as vice presidents

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Translated by
Nicola Mira

Published
Jul 20, 2018

A few weeks after announcing its ‘Performance Programme’ turnaround strategy, German apparel retailer Gerry Weber has made two key senior-management appointments.

From September 1, Gerry Weber SBU will be led by Rena Marx, Vice-President in charge of creativity, and by Peter Krosta, Executive Vice-President Sales. On the same date, Peter Krosta will also assume the role of General Manager of Gerry Weber Retail GmbH, taking charge of both the wholesale and retail businesses.

Both Marx and Krosta will report to Ralf Weber, CEO of Gerry Weber International. The executive vice pesident in charge of products, Raimund Axmann, has instead opted not to extend the term of his contract and will step down on June 30 2020, according to Gerry Weber.

Peter Krosta is an experienced retail executive, having spent twelve years at Galeria Kaufhof, before being appointed COO of the Wicky Group. In 2012, he then joined the Ernstings Family group, an affordable family fashion retailer, as sales director, and will remain with Ernstings until the end of August.

Rena Marx started as vice president in charge of creativity at Gerry Weber on March 1, overseeing the Collection, Casual and Edition lines, and product development as a whole. She joined Gerry Weber in January 2015, as product manager for the Casual line, a line which, in the group’s words, “has become very significant.”

The new appointments coincide with the planned suppression of 140-150 full-time jobs at Gerry Weber’s headquarters and warehouse in the next two years. Gerry Weber operates 1,250 directly run stores; 2,480 shop-in-shops and 270 franchised stores. In the financial year closed at the end of October 2017, the group generated a revenue of €880.9 million, with an operating income of €10.3 million. In the current financial year, Gerry Weber expects a slight downturn in revenue.