ESPRIT | esprit.co.uk

ESPRIT  | Esprit.co.uk

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 Holdings Limited generated a worldwide sales of around EUR 3.25 billion (as of 30.06.2008).


Esprit operates more than 770 retail stores worldwide and distributes products to more than 15,150 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. In 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 ago. 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 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.[citation needed] Architects and designers included Antonio Citterio and Norman Foster.[citation needed] In February 2012 Esprit announced that it will close all retail stores in North America because they have not been competitive in this market and have been losing money.