Who Are Fashion’s Best C.E.O.s?

Topping the list among fashion executives is Tadashi Yanai, chairman and chief executive
of Fast Retailing, which owns the Uniqlo fashion chain.Credit Yuriko Nakao/Reuters

By VANESSA FRIEDMAN  

OCTOBER 24, 2014 8:08 AM

Ooh, we love a list! Especially a “best of” list. So happily, simply in time for the weekend, comes Harvard Business Review’s 100 “Best-Performing CEOs on the planet. ” Fashion executives account for just more than 10 percent of the names - have a bow, Main Street - which is pretty good, but what’s really worth looking at is precisely which fashion executives made the cut. Bet you wouldn’t guess many of them.

In fact , do a little exercise before you read on: Scribble down five names you think will make the list - note the companies, not the people. Check your list against the one beneath, and let me know how many you got right.

Consider:

The first fashion name measures No . 11: Tadashi Yanai of Fast Retailing, which owns Uniqlo.

(On my list, I am not including mall owners, like David Simon of Claire Property Group, No . 5, or online retailers, like Jeffrey P. Bezos associated with Amazon, No . 1, because they are not in a fashion-only business. )

Then:

In 14, Pablo Isla Álvarez de Tejera of Inditex, which owns Zara.

At 25, Michael Balmuth of Ross Stores, an American chain of off-price department stores that operates as Ross Dress for Less. (Mr. Balmuth has been the company’s executive chairman since June. )

At 51, Carol Meyrowitz of TJX, which owns TJ Maxx and Marshalls.

At 52, Nick Hayek Jr .., chairman of the Swatch Group, which also owns Harry Winston.

At fifty four, Blake W. Nordstrom of Nordstrom.

At 66, Terry J. Lundgren associated with Macy’s.

At 73, Herbert Hainer of Adidas.

At 76, Mark Parker of Nike.

At 81, Fabrizio Freda of Estée Lauder Companies.

In 84, Eric C. Wiseman of VF Corporation, which owns brands for example Seven for All Mankind, Lee and Vans.

At 92, Michael J. Kowalski of Tiffany & Company.

So how’d you do?

And anyone else notice things i am noticing?

Aside from Tiffany, Lauder and Swatch, there is a glaring absence of the actual glossy names most often hailed as fashion’s success stories, be it Michael Kors or LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. Perhaps that reflects the general luxury slowdown (the listing was calculated according to “increase in total shareholder return and market capitalization”) or any of the smoke and mirrors on which fashion is based. It is, after all, an industry described by the manipulation of appearance.

If I was an extrapolating kind of girl, that i am, this would suggest to me that Main Street, sports brands and mid-range department stores are actually the ones to watch in this particular sector. It would suggest that accessibility can be a key word.

But that’s just me. What about you?

View the original article here