Mexx Worldwide strengthens management team

Liz Claiborne Inc. has named Volker Schmidt as Global Head of Wholesale Development and Regional Sales Vice President for Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Nordic countries. In this role he will be responsible for Mexx’s global wholesale business development, including directing Mexx’s partnership strategy and processes. Mr. Schmidt will join Mexx starting 1st November 2009.

Former Senior Vice President and Head of Partnership Sales for Esprit, Mr. Schmidt has a tremendous track record of growing market share for Esprit, especially within Germany, a key market for Mexx. He served at Esprit for more than 16 years and grew sales exponentially in that period. Prior to Esprit Mr. Schmidt held a variety of sales positions, including at the popular European fashion company, InWear and Mustang Jeans Group.

Effective 1st November, Jim Nowak will join Mexx as Global Head of Product where he will be responsible for all Mexx product divisions reporting directly to CEO Thomas Grote. In this role, Jim will manage full execution of all product collections, including accountability for the line architecture, pricing structure, assortment planning and product design.

Prior to joining Mexx Mr. Nowak was Senior Vice President, Head – Esprit Casual where he set global strategy for all of the brand’s casual lines. A twenty year veteran of the apparel industry he spent the last nine years working with product at a variety of divisions within Esprit including EDC (Esprit de Corp), women and men’s casual and kid’s.

Knut Burgdorf has been appointed Vice President of Marketing for Mexx Worldwide and will be responsible for all brand Marketing activity, from creative to production. He is a seasoned marketing professional who has tremendous experience in brand building. Prior to joining the Mexx team Mr. Burgdorf worked with TBWA on major global brand accounts and he has recently been working within the cutting edge agency, Parasol Island in Dusseldorf. Knut will report directly to Thomas Grote, effective 1st November 2009.

Bill McComb, Chief Executive Officer of Liz Claiborne Inc. commented on the announcement, “With the addition of Volker, Jim and Knut we continue to round out a world class management team for our Mexx Worldwide business in anticipation of the arrival of Thomas Grote as CEO in October. These executives have extensive experience in product, brand building, vertical and wholesale retailing and marketing within key Mexx markets and among similar consumers to ours at Mexx. Our Mexx associates have made great strides over the past several months to move the brand in the right direction and enhance our product and branding efforts, while evolving the business into a more consumer-focused, merchant-led model. The expertise and insights that these executives bring to the table will build upon that momentum and prove invaluable as we continue the Mexx turnaround and efforts to get the brand back on track.”