Smiley appoints head of design

Fashion and lifestyle brand Smiley has announced the appointment of two new senior roles as the company continues

its creative expansion plans. David Fox, former Disney exec, has been named head of design, while Salvatore Zingrillo from Sanrio has been appointed global brand director.

Fox, previously creative director at Walt Disney's consumer products division, bringing with him design, retail and brand knowledge to the role. He has also held a number of senior creative and marketing roles, including vice president design at The Gap's Old Navy division in the US and as creative marketing director for Esprit's EDC division in Germany.

Zingrillo joins Smiley from Sanrio, where he served as EMEA marketing director and built brand strategies for Hello Kitty premium collaborations with the likes of Liberty and Barbour, prior to that he worked at Diesel and MTV.

Commenting on the appointments, Smiley chief executive, Nicolas Loufrani, said: “I’m really pleased to have found two talents who both have a high level understanding of style and of the licensing industry.

“These are very rare profiles and they correspond to Smiley’s unique vision of our business: we should always respect customers and provide them with the best possible products based on the latest trends and for the best prices. Our role at Smiley is not to sell only licenses, but to market great products in partnership with licensees.”

Both roles will commence on September 1 and will be based in London.