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Kate Spade with new structure for creative organization

Mar 5, 2021 United States
Kate Spade with new structure for creative organization
The American-based fashion design house Kate Spade, owned by the Tapestry-group, today announced a new creative organizational structure designed to sharpen its focus on the consumer, drive innovation, and increase collaboration
The implementation of the changes will result in the formation of two key roles: SVP, Brand Concept & Strategy and Head of Product Design. These leaders will partner with Jenny Campbell, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer, and Michele Parsons, SVP, Chief Merchandising Officer.

“Kate Spade is a unique global lifestyle brand with a loyal and passionate following. Over the past year, we’ve worked diligently to build a strong foundation for our future. We have made significant progress, refocusing on our core collection and bringing newness to the assortment to reflect the brand’s distinct DNA. To build on this success, we recognized an opportunity to modernize our approach and processes to fuel innovation and better serve our customers. As a result, we’ve reimagined our creative structure, centred on collaboration, to position us to more fully deliver on our brand promise across every customer interaction with clarity and cohesion. I am incredibly optimistic for our future, and confident that these changes will further position us to win with our customer in product, innovation, digital, community, and storytelling”, commented Liz Fraser, CEO and Brand President of Kate Spade.

Kristen Naiman, who has served as SVP, Brand Creative at Kate Spade for the past seven years, will assume the role of SVP, Brand Concept & Strategy, effective from the 1st of April onwards. She will be responsible for the creation, publication, and socialization of brand storytelling platforms on a regular cadence, helping set the vision and lead the creation of all brand elements across customer touchpoints, as well as annual and seasonal concept, print, and colour direction. She will report directly to Liz Fraser.

In addition, as a result of these changes, Nicola Glass, Creative Director of Kate Spade, has decided to depart the organization by the 1st of April. The brand has commenced a search for a Head of Product Design who will lead design across all categories, including handbags and accessories, ready-to-wear, jewellery, footwear, and licensed categories. During the ongoing search process, the design team will report directly to Liz Fraser, working closely with the brand’s senior leadership team.

Ms. Fraser added: “We are grateful to Nicola for her contributions to Kate Spade. Nicola helped us to take important steps forward, including rebuilding the core of our handbag assortment and enhancing our product quality, while creating iconic and proprietary elements that distinguish our brand. She has also established an incredibly talented design team who will continue to honour our brand’s legacy and drive our business into the future”.

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