Esprit Holdings

Esprit Holdings Limited

Type	Public company
Industry	Retail, Fashion
Founded	1968 in San Francisco, California
Headquarters	Global Business Headquarters: Ratingen, Germany Global Finance Headquarters: Hong Kong
Key people	Chairman: Raymond Or
Products	Clothing, Watches, Bedroom Furnishing
Number of employees	15,000 worldwide
Website	www.esprit.com

Esprit Holdings Limited (Chinese: 思捷環球控股有限公司 SEHK: 330) is a publicly owned manufacturer of clothing, footwear, accessories, jewellery and housewares under the Esprit label. The company is headquartered in Kowloon, Hong Kong, and Ratingen (near Düsseldorf), Germany. In the 2007–2008 business year, Esprit generated a worldwide sales of around EUR 3.25 billion (as of 30.06.2008). Esprit operates more than 900 retail stores worldwide and distributes products to more than 8,500 wholesale locations around the globe. Esprit has more than 1.1 million square meters of retail space in 40 countries.

The ESPRIT brand name is licensed to other manufacturers. In addition, the group owns the Red Earth cosmetics brand.

The Esprit flagship stores feature both current Esprit fashion lines and licensee products under one roof. Esprit has an architecture department that is responsible for the worldwide design of its stores.

On September 27, 2011 Esprit Holdings Ltd. was valued at just $1.4 billion, a loss of more than 90 percent from a $20 billion valuation four years prior. According to Credit Suisse, Esprit's brand is valued at $3.4 billion.

History

The first joint fashion line established by Susie and Doug Tompkins (who had previously founded The North Face) was sold from a VW bus and their headquarters was the Tompkins’ apartment in San Francisco. Susie assumed the creative and Doug Tompkins the financial role in the business.

In 1979, the Esprit logo was developed by John Casado.

The 1980s saw the introduction of the “Real People Campaign”, which was shot by photographer Oliviero Toscani, using architects and designers for its projects, starting with Italian Ettore Sottsass, who developed the first Esprit Europe Headquarters in Düsseldorf. He established the overall concept of the stores in the style of the Memphis design movement. Architects and designers included Antonio Citterio and Norman Foster.

In February 2012, Esprit announced that it planned to close all retail stores in North America because they were not competitive in this market and were losing money.

Product lines

Esprit's products include casual sportswear and "collection" business clothing for both men and women; "de.corp" urban casual clothing for young women; "kids" clothing for children up to 7 years old; sports wear including skiwear, fitness fashion and streetwear; accessories such as bags; shoes; and bodywear, day and night underwear and swimwear for men, women and children.

In 1998, the "edc" of young people's clothing was founded.

Since 1990, Esprit has grown through licensees. More than 30 license holders include Coty/Lancaster (scents) and Falke (socks and stockings). Under the name “Esprit timewear + jewel”, Egana Holdings Ltd. produces watches and jewellery.

Esprit home sells furniture, carpets, wallpaper, lighting, living accessories, home textiles and bathrooms; Esprit kids’ world sells maternity wear, toys, buggies and nursery furniture.

Company

In the 2007/2008 business year, Esprit Holdings Limited reported worldwide sales of EUR 3.25 billion.

The Group operates more than 835 directly managed retail stores worldwide and distributes its products via more than 15,000 wholesale locations around the globe. The company has more than 1.1 million square metres of sales area in more than 40 countries.

See also

• List of Hong Kong companies

External links

• Esprit official website
• Article on the history of Esprit