Esprit recorded its first profits in 5 years

Do you remember Esprit? The chain of fast fashion stores formerly American and now owned by a Hong Kong family was a bit everywhere in the early 2000s, complicit with the advent of large-scale clothing distribution, and had begun to colonize city centers along with its "colleagues" such as Zara, H&M, Desigual, Bershka or Pull & Bear. Over time, its presence had been fading, with its financial position becoming unstable since 2017. Today, the brand announced that it has recorded its first profits after five years of losses - a figure that is around $47 million, according to BoF. 

The company reportedly changed the end of its fiscal year, making it difficult to make comparisons to other periods in the past, but president Christin Chiu attributed the strong financial results to increased online sales, higher gross profit margins and improved cost and inventory management. The brand has actually struggled for a while, with several changes of hands over the past decade beginning with the management of CEO Jose Manuel Martinez Gutiérrez and ending with the rapid cycle of three different CEOs changed within ten months of last year. Now, the brand has confirmed a new all-Hong Kong executive team led by William Pak that is expected to bring the brand back to prominence while also working with European division president Leif Erichson.