Esprit Hires Ex-Zara Executive Rafael Pastor as Product Chief

HONG KONG, China — Esprit Holdings Ltd., the Hong Kong apparel seller which lost two executives in 48 hours in June last year, has appointed Rafael Pastor Espuch as new chief product officer amid slumping European sales.

Pastor previously worked for Inditex SA, according to a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange. Inditex, a Spanish clothes maker, employed Esprit Chief Executive Officer Jose Manuel Martinez Gutierrez before he switched jobs last year.

Pastor, who oversaw more than 2 billion euros ($2.75 billion) of sales at the Zara Basic division of Inditex's Zara clothing chain, will manage product creation and design for all Esprit-branded products, according to the statement. Pastor takes over from Melody Harris-Jensbach.

Esprit posted a HK$4.39 billion ($566 million) loss in the year ended June, its first since a 1993 listing, as sales slid 11 percent in Europe, the recession-hit region that accounts for more than 78 percent of sales. The company will return to profitability by the end of the current fiscal year through June 2014, Martinez said last month. First-quarter sales fell to HK$6.55 billion from HK$6.6 billion a year ago, the company said today.

Harris-Jensbach will leave Esprit on Oct. 31 to pursue “new and broader” opportunities, the company said in a separate filing last week. She will act as a consultant to Esprit on several projects next year, it said.

Pastor starts as chief product officer on Nov. 4.

By Rachel Evans; Editors: Allen Wan, Joshua Fellman, Katrina Nicholas