Brands
Lululemon
Lululemon Athletica Inc. appointed Michael Aragon as CEO of Mirror and Lululemon Digital Fitness, effective Jan. 17.
In this role, Aragon will oversee the development and expansion of the Mirror in-home digital platform and will report directly to CEO Calvin McDonald.
Aragon joins Lululemon from Amazon, where he has served for five years as chief content officer at Twitch, a live-streaming service that creates multi-player entertainment experiences. Previously, he served as general manager, VRV at Ellation Inc.
Lulemon Athletica inc. is a healthy lifestyle-inspired athletic apparel company for yoga, running and training. Mirror is an interactive home gym featuring live and on-demand fitness classes and personal training in a variety of workout genres.
A.K.A. Brands
A.K.A. Brands Holding Corp. a brand accelerator of direct-to-consumer (DTC) fashion brands, announced the appointment of Simon Beard and Ilene Eskenazi to its board of directors.
Beard is a co-founder streetwear brand Culture Kings, which joined the A.K.A. Brands portfolio in March. Eskenazi currently serves as chief legal officer and corporate secretary for Petco Health and Wellness Company Inc., where she oversees all legal, corporate governance and regulatory affairs in support of the company’s strategic plans and growth objectives.
Current brands in the A.K.A Brands portfolio include Princess Polly, mnml, Petal & Pup and Rebdolls, in addition to Culture Kings.
Retail
Cato Corp.
The Cato Corporation announced that John R. Howe, its executive vice president (EVP), chief financial officer (CFO) and principal financial officer, plans to retire from these roles on Jan. 17 following 35 years of service.
Howe will remain employed with the company through May 1 to assist with the transition.
Related Stories
Chuck Knight will succeed him as EVP and CFO. Knight joins Cato following previous service with The Vitamin Shoppe in the same role.
The Cato Corporation is a specialty retailer of value-priced fashion apparel and accessories operating three concepts, Cato, Versona and It’s Fashion. Cato stores offer exclusive merchandise with fashion and quality comparable to mall specialty stores at low prices every day. The company also offers exclusive merchandise found in its Cato stores at catofashions.com. Versona is a fashion destination offering apparel and accessories including jewelry, handbags and shoes.
Textiles
Teijin
Teijin Limited announced that its board of directors elected Akimoto Uchikawa, currently executive officer and member of the board, as its next president and CEO, effective April 1.
Jun Suzuki, the current president and CEO of the company, will assume the post of chairman of Teijin Limited on the same day. Uchikawa has concurrently served as president of the material business of Teijin Group.
Teijin, originally established as Japan’s first rayon manufacturer in 1918, has evolved into an enterprise encompassing three core business domains–high-performance materials including aramid, carbon fibers and composites, and also resin and plastic processing, films, polyester fibers and products converting; healthcare including pharmaceuticals and home healthcare equipment, and packaged software and B2C online services for digital entertainment.
Technology
Fabric
Fabric announced that Craig Berman was transitioning his role as outside advisor and joining the company as its first senior vice president of corporate marketing.
Berman will be responsible for public relations, social media and content creation, reporting to chief marketing officer Karen Brewer. Prior to joining fabric, Berman spent nearly 15 years at Amazon building and leading the global communications team. Additionally, he served as the head of public relations and publicity for Prime Video/Amazon Studios.
Customers like BuildDirect, ABC Carpet & Home, GNC and MSC trust fabric for its open and modular design that allows them to be live within weeks without having to replatform. Headquartered in Seattle, Fabric is backed by Stripes, B Capital Group, Greycroft, Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ventures, Sierra Ventures, Innovation Global Capital, Ascend Venture Capital, Expa and BC Partners.
Legal
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles
Stubbs Alderton & Markiles (SA&M), a Southern California law firm, announced that Mark Brutzkus and Nick Rozanzky joined the firm as partners.
Brutzkus and Rozansky, formerly name partners at Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber, bring decades of experience, namely in the apparel and fashion industry, to SA&M.
Brutzkus specializes in representing consumer product companies in corporate, commercial, intellectual property, finance, transactional, merger and acquisition, insolvency, e-commerce and sourcing matters. For the past three decades, since founding Brutzkus Gubner Rozansky Seror Weber, he has leveraged his experience to guide apparel, textile and other consumer product clients during their startup journeys, capital transactions, and mergers and acquisitions.
Rozansky advises on and represents clients in many aspects of their businesses, including pre-litigation and litigation matters, risk avoidance, collaboration deals, IP protection and business strategies. Working alongside Brutzkus, he has traversed many industries, including fashion and apparel, jewelry, banking and finance, and consumer products.