Deborah Lloyd
Deborah Lloyd, formerly of Bannana Republic, will take over as co-president and creative director at Kate Spade it was announced today.
The new appointment follows the decision by husband and wife team Kate and Andy Spade to step down from heads of the label in July.
"The brand seed pod is so rich and it has so much permission from a product category perspective, there's no doubt there will be expansion by autumn/winter 2009-2010," William L McComb, ceo of Liz Claiborne Inc - which owns Kate Spade told WWD.
"We were in violent agreement that handbags, footwear and small leather goods were the bread and butter of the brand, and that, until we get that core humming as loud as it should, we probably won't expand into other categories. When we do enter other categories, it has to be a deposit in the brand equity account, not a withdrawal."
The Spade brand was bought by Liz Claiborne last year and Kate and Andy signed a service agreement and stayed on board until the end of the Spring season. They decided to leave the company in July to go travelling with their two year old daughter and enjoying some family time.
"This is a hard decision, and I feel very emotional about it," said Kate Spade back in July. "But the emotions would be more about melancholy if I thought we weren't doing the right thing. We are with the right partners — we wouldn't make this decision otherwise. This an opportunity for employees, the fabulous teams we have in place, to take the baton and run away with it."
Caz Moss- Female First
my blog