Esprit launches Futura network to "reinvent consumer engagement"

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
May 13, 2022

Esprit on Friday unveiled its new Esprit Futura “network of hubs for business innovation and technological excellence worldwide”. It comes as the company continues to reinvent itself and bounce back from a bruising period in recent years.

It said it’s part of the “group-wide digital strategy to reinvent customer engagement experiences by turning data into insights, fuelling the brand’s global expansion matched to the fast-growing scale of digital change in today’s fashion retail landscape”.

Led by the firm’s tech chief Edwin Pak, the Futura team “will work closely with existing business units and expedite global digital R&D”.

They’ll also be “tasked to develop new methodologies to enable the brand to embrace new ideas to deliver game-changing commerce solutions and realise [its] new customer-centric vision, bringing its products and unique experiences closer to consumers and wholesalers”.

Big ambitions then. But what else does that mean in practice? The network will also serve as a launchpad for collaborations “with like-minded partners and start-ups”, including those with specialities in business operations system optimisation as well as fashion and e-commerce tech.

The company already has some projects under way and its first physical Futura hub will debut in Q3 in Houthavens, which it said is “Amsterdam’s first eco-neutral environment and a fast-growing digital playground for major retail players”.

It chose The Netherlands as it's “renowned for being Europe’s most wired country”, and the Amsterdam hub will play a key role in supporting Esprit’s continuous growth in the European market, with the establishment of regional hubs in Asia and the Americas to follow.

CEO William Pak said that the brand sees “immense potential for innovation in Europe” and the new hub will “energise” its European operations, including its German base in Ratingen.