Esprit planning comeback in Asia with departure from fast fashion

Bloomberg

Esprit Holdings Ltd, the once high-flying Hong Kong fashion retailer before it tumbled into years of losses, is planning a comeback in Asia, pivoting away from a fast-fashion strategy where it failed to compete with brands such as Zara and H&M.
The company is now focusing on better-quality clothing that’s more expensive than fast-fashion apparel but more sustainable, Chief Executive Officer William Pak said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. It’s also returning to Asia after closing all 56 stores in the region in early 2020 amid Covid-induced lockdowns.
A pop-up store opened in Seoul in April, and a flagship outlet in Hong Kong’s Causeway Bay shopping hub is set to open next month. While the focus will remain on e-commerce, the company wants to have at least one signature store in key Asian markets where it also has an online presence, Pak said. It has launched online platforms in South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines, and plans to expand into mainland China, Singapore and Thailand by the end of the year.
Esprit’s changing strategy comes as the fast-fashion model faces increasing criticism over environmental, social and governance issues such as wastefulness, questionable sourcing of materials and sweat-shop manufacturing. The company, which became a global household name in the 1980s and 1990s, is hoping to create a clean and youthful image to return to those heydays of double-digit growth.
“We are really targeting exponential growth of revenue,” Pak said. “Esprit is not fast fashion, and it took a long time for this to be realised in the company.”