Saks Realigns Fashion Merchants
Anna Irving fills a key slot, getting promoted to senior vice president and general merchandise manager of women’s designer ready-to-wear.
As part of a major realignment of its merchant team, Saks Fifth Avenue has promoted Anna Irving to senior vice president and general merchandise manager of women's designer ready-to-wear.
“Women's designer ready-to-wear is a category that is essential to setting an elevated and fashion-forward position for Saks,” said Tracy Margolies, chief merchant of Saks Fifth Avenue. Margolies characterized Irving as an “effective leader with excellent vendor relationships, a strong fashion point of view and deep understanding of the Saks customer.”
Irving takes over the rtw responsibilities left behind by Yumi Shin, who was
Saks' senior vice president and general merchandise manager of women's designer rtw, handbags and soft accessories. In October, Shin become executive buying director at Bergdorf Goodman.
Irving has more than 17 years of experience in luxury retail with background in omnichannel buying, merchandise planning, product development, store operations and strategy, and was most recently vice president and divisional merchandise manager for European couture, European designer and American designer. Earlier, she was vice president and divisional merchandise manager for handbags where she spearheaded the planning and execution of a new handbag floor opening soon at the Manhattan flagship store. She began her career at Saks in 2000 as an assistant, and held roles at LVMH and Macy's before rejoining Saks in 2007 as a divisional planning manager.
In other changes, the following vice presidents and divisional merchandise managers were given new merchandise assignments: Betty Wang, women's handbags and accessories; Will Cooper, women's shoes, and Dayna Karafiol, contemporary, modern, children's, evening, outerwear, swim and lingerie.
In addition, Jamillah Davis, formerly buying director of men's shoes and accessories, was promoted to vice president and divisional merchandise for men's footwear and accessories.
“We remain focused on elevating Saks Fifth Avenue through a differentiated fashion offering, a core component to delivering on ‘the new luxury,'” said Margolies, referring to Saks' fashion strategy which involves focusing on “individuality, personalization and ease.”
“These organizational changes allow us to bring new perspectives to key categories of our business while leveraging the tremendous talent within our merchant organization, who have a deep knowledge of the Saks customer,” Margolies added.