ESPRIT MOVES TO NEW YORK CITY TO HOUSE ITS NEW GLOBAL CREATIVE HEADQUARTERS
Esprit has signed a lease with Hudson Square Properties in New York City for what will become the company’s new Global Creative Headquarters. The lease deal includes over 38,000 square feet spanning two floors at 160 Varick Street, on the border of Greenwich Village and Soho. The new offices at 160 Varick Street will be the company headquarters for the brand’s global design, branding, creative, and marketing efforts.
Esprit is looking to appoint a world-class architectural firm for the renovations of this industrial-style space built in 1927, with the aim of creating an open plan office, flooded in natural daylight, to help promote enhanced creativity and collaboration. Once renovations are complete the 11th and 12th floors will house approximately 100-120 employees including Chief Brand Officer, Ana Andjelic, and Senior Vice President of Design, Tom Cawson.
The new Global Creative Headquarters signals the brand’s return to the US, where the company was originally founded in 1968. The move represents the modernization of Esprit’s California-cool roots into a metropolitan brand that is designed, created, and photographed in New York City. While the creative headquarters are in New York, the operational headquarters remain in Hong Kong, reinforcing the vision for a global brand known for its innovation and collaboration, and a recommitment to the brand’s original key pillars – design, quality, and fit.
On the decision to move the creative headquarters to New York City, Eprit Chief Executive Officer, William Pak, said “our intention is for the brand to resonate with a global audience. New York City is the cultural epicenter of the world, a diverse city full of incredible talent. From a creative and design perspective the next evolution of Esprit, like New York, will be sleek, aspirational, and timeless.”
The official relaunch is set for mid-2023 with a focus on modernizing the brand heritage and values for today’s consumer in a way that resonates across generations. The refreshed ESPRIT embodies an ode to 1980s and ’90s nostalgia – luxury apparel with an attainable price point. With a New York City-based global flagship and a Los Angeles flagship set to open this year, customers will be reintroduced to Esprit’s signature playful and modern aesthetic, updated for the 21st century. To bring back the brand’s retail presence, additional flagships are in the works across the US and Canada in the coming year.
