Esprit names Raphael Heinold as SVP head of wholesale and brand merchandising in Europe

Hong Kong-based fashion brand Esprit has promoted Raphael Heinold to senior vice president, head of wholesale and brand merchandising in Europe. Heinold returned to Esprit in 2019 as head of product management, after having previously worked with the company from 2005 to 2007 and again from 2009 to 2014.

Over the course of his career, Heinold also served as product director at Tom Tailor (between 2018 and 2019) and S.Oliver (from 2014 to 2018), and worked for Levi's in Germany (from 1999 to 2001).
 
At Esprit, he is now in charge of "reinvigorating the brand" in Europe. "As the company enters a new phase of growth, I look forward to him bringing his passion and expertise to our brand in product development and merchandising," stated William Pak, CEO of Esprit.

After scaling back its business over the past two years, eliminating jobs and stores in Europe and pulling out of the Asian market (excluding China), the company posted its first profit since 2017 in 2021. Last year, Esprit generated a profit of 370 million Hong Kong dollars (€43 million), for a turnover of 8.3 billion Hong Kong dollars (€953 million).