Michael Kors CEO departs on Capri leadership reshuffle (#1682070)

Capri Holdings announced on Tuesday the departure of Cedric Wilmotte from his role as chief executive officer at Michael Kors. He will be succeeded by John Idol, chairman and chief executive officer of Capri, effective December 2.

The U.S. fashion group also said company veteran Philippa Newman has been promoted to chief product officer at Michael Kors.

Newman joined the luxury fashion brand over 14 years ago having most recently served as the president of accessories and footwear. In this new role, the executive will report to Idol and oversee merchandising, production, licensing and design across all product categories, in partnership with chief creative officer, Michael Kors.

“I would like to thank Cedric for his significant contributions over the last 16 years. We wish him all the best in his future endeavors,” said Idol, without elaborating on a reason for Wilmotte’s shock departure.

“As I stated on our recent investor call, we are moving quickly to implement strategic initiatives to stabilize revenues and return to growth. This reorganization reinforces Michael Kors’ plans to engage and energize both new and loyal consumers, create exciting fashion and core products with compelling value, improve store productivity and return our wholesale business to growth. Philippa is a dynamic leader with an exceptional breadth of experience developing compelling product for our consumers. I am confident that in her new role as chief product officer for Michael Kors she will successfully lead the execution of our product transformation strategy and drive growth for Michael Kors across all channels.”

The reshuffle comes after several quarters of dwindling sales for parent company Capri and its fashion fold made up of Versace, Jimmy Choo, and its New York-based darling, Michael Kors.

​In its most recent trading update, Capri posted a bigger-than-expected drop in quarterly revenue, hurt by execution missteps across brands and a global slowdown in luxury goods demand.

Adding to the financial blow, a U.S. court earlier this month ruled in favour of the Federal Trade Commission to block fellow U.S fashion group Tapestry‘s takeover of the struggling Capri firm. The FTC argued the merger would eliminate “direct head-to-head competition” between the top two U.S. handbag makers.

At the time, Tapestry said it would appeal the court’s decision. However, last week, the New York-based firm, which owns Coach, Stuart Weitzman, and Kate Spade, said it had withdrew its $8.5 billion takeover bid for Capri.