PVH Corp. appoints new CEO of EMEA

Dive Brief:

• PVH Corp. hired Fredrik Olsson as its new CEO of PVH EMEA, the region consisting of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, effective in Q4, according to a press release Thursday.
• Olsson will report to Stefan Larsson, CEO of the Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein parent company. 
• Olsson succeeds Martijn Hagman, who stepped down from his position of CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Global and PVH Europe in June. At the time of the announcement, the company said Hagman would stay on in an advisory capacity to “facilitate a smooth transition.” The Tommy Hilfiger portion of Hagman’s responsibilities was given to global brand president Lea Rytz Goldman.

Dive Insight:

The new hire comes as PVH has been implementing changes to its sales strategy in Europe. In its latest earnings release last week, PVH said it was continuing its “strategic reduction” of sales in Europe, in an effort to “drive overall higher quality of sales in the region.”

Olsson was most recently CEO of Dubai-based Max Fashion, one of the largest fashion retailers in the Middle East, per the release. He also spent more than 20 years at the H&M Group, where he held various roles including managing director of the H&M brand, as well as head of global expansion and head of global growth for the H&M Group.

For the new role, Olsson will relocate to Amsterdam and work out of PVH’s EMEA regional headquarters. 

PVH Chief Supply Chain Officer David Savman, who led PVH Europe in an interim capacity following Hagman’s departure, will continue to lead the division until Olsson joins, and will work closely with Olsson during the “handover period.”

“Fredrik is a unique leader in our sector with a high-performance track record of driving consistent, profitable, brand-accretive growth across multiple markets globally, leading through a very strong people and partnership focus,” Larsson said in the release. “His systematic and repeatable approach of driving growth will be important as we continue to unlock our full potential in the region and make progress towards our vision to build Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger into the most desirable lifestyle brands in the world and make PVH one of the highest performing brand groups in our sector.” 

PVH has been working to boost the value of its core brands as part of its PVH+ Plan, as well as lead the company to $12.5 billion in revenue by 2025. Last week, the company reported Q2 revenue of $2.1 billion, marking a 6% year-over-year decrease.