Retail
Famous Footwear
Caleres named Michael Edwards president of Famous Footwear, effective Nov. 20.
Edwards joined Caleres in 2008, most recently serving as senior vice president of digital commerce, planning, allocation and stores. Prior to that, he held roles of increasing responsibility in Famous Footwear, including time as chief customer officer, senior vice president of merchandise planning and analytics and vice president, sales and store operations.
Edwards will replace Molly Adams, who resigned her position, effective Nov. 20, to pursue an opportunity outside the organization.
Caleres’ portfolio includes Famous Footwear, Sam Edelman, Naturalizer, Allen Edmonds, Vionic and Dr. Scholl’s Shoes.
Hibbett Sports
Hibbett Sports, a Birmingham, Ala.-based based premium footwear and athleisure retailer with nearly 1,100 Hibbett Sports and City Gear stores nationwide, announced a new structural alignment for its merchandising leadership team. The new alignment will allow for stronger focus on consumers by elevating a toe-to-head connectivity strategy across product categories, including men’s, women’s, and kids’. The new Hibbett | City Gear structure will be focused “toe-to-head” and organized by gender.
As a part of the new alignment, Hibbett has also announced the hiring of Stephani Smith as vice president (VP) and general merchandise manager (GMM). Smith brings 27 years of industry experience with Nike, spanning across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Her responsibilities included sales and merchandising, as well as general management at Nike and Converse. In her new role, Stephani will be focused on furthering the development of the holistic women’s business by sharply focusing on the female consumer at Hibbett.
The rest of the new merchandising leadership team structure alignment is Jared Briskin, senior vice president and chief merchant for Hibbett | City Gear, Alicia Kahn as VP of planning at Hibbett | City Gear, Varetta Banks as VP and GMM of men’s at Hibbett, Lauren Portera, VP and GMM for kids’ and team sports for Hibbett and Brooke Frankel as VP and GMM for City Gear.
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National Retail Federation
The National Retail Federation (NRF) hired veteran labor policy expert Edwin Egee as vice president for government relations and workforce development.
Egee will be responsible for NRF’s policy agenda on issues including labor, health care and workforce development. He will manage NRF’s Committee on Employment Law and its Health and Employee Benefits Committee.
Egee comes to NRF from the National Labor Relations Board, where he was director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs, overseeing the board’s relationships with Congress, other federal agencies, the news media and outside groups. Prior to the NLRB, he directed federal policy for the Xerox Corporation, advocating on employee benefits, corporate governance and labor issues.
Brands
H&M
H&M Group appointed Leyla Ertur as its next head of sustainability, effective Jan. 1.
Ertur takes over from Anna Gedda, who has led the company’s sustainability initiatives since 2014. Gedda will take on a new role as head of steering and strategic planning at H&M Group.
Leyla joined the fast-fashion company in 2000 and has since worked on multiple continents, leading teams in human resources, production and global supply chain management. She has worked “extensively” in the production countries where H&M operates and most recently held a duel position as regional country manager production, Europe and head of global quality strategy and compliance.
Hanesbrands
Hanesbrands announced that Joia M. Johnson, chief administrative officer, general counsel and corporate secretary, plans to retire in May.
Johnson joined Hanesbrands as chief legal officer, general counsel and corporate secretary in 2007. She was named to her current role in 2016, with responsibility for legal, corporate social responsibility, government affairs, real estate and human resources.
From May 2000 until January 2007, Johnson served as executive vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary of RARE Hospitality International, Inc., an owner, operator and franchisor of national chain restaurants acquired by Darden Restaurants Inc. in October 2007. Hanesbrands is conducting an internal and external search for her replacement.
Hanesbrands also announced that Greg Hall will join the company as chief consumer officer, effective Nov. 16.
Hall will lead U.S. marketing and brands, e-commerce and retail. He will also be responsible for building the company’s global brands, particularly Champion and Hanes.
Most recently, Hall was senior vice president, private brands, at Walmart. During his 14 years at Walmart, he held a number of senior marketing and merchandising leadership roles, including chief marketing officer of Walmart.com and head of Walmart’s U.S. manufacturing initiative.
Sperry
Wolverine World Wide has named Elizabeth Drori the new chief marketing officer for Sperry.
The Harvard MBA will report to Joelle Grunberg, global brand president of Sperry and a member of the company’s executive leadership team. Drori is tasked with developing and executing Sperry’s global brand strategy, from global marketing and digital advertising to creative services and social media efforts.
Drori offers more than a decade of experience guiding fashion organizations and driving revenue growth, most recently serving as head of marketing for Walmart’s fashion business where she led an omnichannel marketing team focused on driving perception change and acquiring new customers. During her tenure with the mass merchant, she launched several new and high-profile fashion brands, including Scoop, Free Assembly, and Sofia Jeans by Sofia Vergara, and spearheaded performance marketing to drive double digit growth on the dot-com business.
Before arriving at Walmart, Drori served in a variety of director roles at Converse, including global brand management, corporate and brand strategy, and international business development, and was also a management consultant with BCG.
Textiles
ITMF
Ruizhe Sun, president of the China National Textile and Apparel Council, was elected as the new president The International Textile Manufacturers Federation (ITMF).
K.V. Srinivasan, chairman of the Cotton Textiles Export Promotion Council of India, and Juan Parès, chairman of Spain’s Textil Santanderina Group were elected as vice presidents. Ernesto Maurer, CEO of Switzerland’s SSM AG, was elected as treasurer.
Additional reporting by Jessica Binns.