Lands’ End picks Jerome Griffith as its next CEO
Griffith recently headed Tumi
Struggling retailer Lands’ End Inc. on Monday named a new CEO to succeed Federica Marchionni, the New York executive who tried — not particularly successfully — to steer the Dodgeville firm onto a more-fashionable course.
Now poised to take the reins at the clothing company best known for its traditional, button-down styling is Jerome Griffith, a multilingual, Harley-Davidson-riding retail veteran who most recently was president and CEO at upscale luggage merchant Tumi Holdings. He will assume his new position in March and will join the Lands’ End board of directors.
Unlike Marchionni, who created resentment among some at Lands’ End by working primarily from New York and coming to Wisconsin only periodically, Griffith will be based in Dodgeville. He has agreed to obtain a home in the Madison area, according to a securities document filed Monday by Lands’ End.
That’s in sharp contrast to Marchionni, whose employment contract specified that she would not have to move from New York.
Griffith, who lives in New York City and East Hampton, was in Dodgeville on Monday, meeting employees. Thousands of people work at the Lands’ End headquarters, warehouse and production plant, which dominate the economy of the small, southwestern Wisconsin city.
In taking the Lands’ End post, Griffith will be looking to turn around the fortunes of a retailer that has seen yearover-year sales decline for nine consecutive quarters.
His predecessor, Marchionni, lasted 19 months. She left in September.
The stylish Marchionni, who previously had been with luxury Italian fashion house Dolce & Gabbana, was supposed to help lift Lands’ End, which some viewed as tarnished from 12 years of ownership by Sears that ended with a spinoff in early 2014.
Marchionni often spoke of retaining the base of customers who for years have purchased Lands’ End polo shirts and down jackets. But her emphasis was on adding a more fashion-forward — and expensive — element to the mix.
With that in mind, last spring she unveiled the “Canvas by Lands’ End” line in an effort to attract a younger, more fashion-conscious customer.
But neither new nor established customers have embraced Canvas, interim co-CEO Joseph Boitano told analysts on a conference call last month, the first since Marchionni’s departure. In fact, sales were so weak that Lands’ End wrote down $4.4 million worth of Canvas inventory, contributing to the firm’s third-quarter loss.
Boitano said during the call that the line “will be significantly scaled back and be more consistent with our classic offering.”
Marchionni also alienated some Lands’ End customers by featuring noted feminist and abortion-rights advocate Gloria Steinem in a spring catalog, then irked others by abandoning the alliance amid criticism from abortion foes. To some, the public relations missteps showed a lack of understanding of the retailer’s customers.
Griffith’s thoughts about Marchionni’s initiatives, and the larger strategic direction for Lands’ End, aren’t known. He was not available for an interview Monday.
Tumi, though, did well under Griffith. A money-loser when he became CEO in April 2009, the company steadily increased its earnings to $63 million in 2015, Griffith’s last full year there. Sales over that period rose from $197 million to $547 million. Griffith headed Tumi until its purchase by Samsonite International SA in
August.
Lands’ End’s revenue, meanwhile, has been sliding since 2012. The company booked a $19.5 million loss last year as it wrote off part of the value of its name. Through the first nine months of this year, the firm lost $15 million.
Previously, he held executive posts at Esprit Holdings Limited, a global fashion brand; and at Tommy Hilfiger. From 1998 to 1999 he was president of retail at J. Peterman Company — the catalog-based apparel firm whose colorful narrative descriptions of its items were satirized on the “Seinfeld” television show.
Griffith, 59, speaks French and German, works out with mixed martial arts and has toured three continents on his Harley-Davidson motorcycles, according to a description on the Tumi website. He graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in marketing.
His base salary at Lands’ End will be $950,000, with the opportunity to double that his first year by hitting specified targets, according to Monday’s securities filing. Griffith also will get 117,647 shares of Lands’ End stock, worth about $2.1 million at Monday’s closing price. He will be eligible for a long-term incentive payment equal to at least twice his base pay.
In 2015, Griffith received $3.1 million in total compensation from Tumi, including a base salary of $885,000.
Besides his work at Tumi, which describes itself as a “premium lifestyle brand,” Griffith is a director of Vince Holding Co., which calls itself “a leading contemporary fashion brand best known for modern effortless style and everyday luxury essentials.”
He also is a director at Samsonite and a member of the supervisory board of German fashion firm Tom Tailor Holding AG, and he sits on the board of governors of Parsons School of Design in New York.
He and his wife have two children.