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Esprit store in Nanjing: »We were on the right track.
But the shareholder has other plans «
Photo: Wang Gang / Costfoto / picture alliance
The Esprit headquarters in Ratingen near Düsseldorf is usually not a place for great emotions.
Reduced elegance, lots of glass, wood, in between fashion dolls and clothes racks with the current collection.
For some time now, the fashion company has been focusing on muted colors, more natural fibers, and simple cuts.
And with success: after parting with 1200 employees in protective insolvency proceedings and announcing that they would close 50 branches in Germany alone, they were profitable again at the end of 2020 - for the first time in years.
But now there is unrest on Esprit-Allee, which incidentally has hardly any trees.
The employees fear the liquidation of their company.
In mid-December, the company announced that it was moving its headquarters to Hong Kong.
Resides there
billionaire Karen Lo Ki-yan, head of Esprit's major shareholder North Point Talent and heiress of a soy milk empire.
In the future, the first two management levels will be responsible for purchasing, marketing and collections from there.
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