Christine Lee has resigned as women’s merchandising & design SVP,
Pacific Sunwear of California. She plans to join Wet Seal as EVP and
chief merchandising officer, starting on Sept. 3. Brieane Breuer, who
joined PacSun in 2007 and is the company’s current vice president of women’s design, will assume the additional
responsibilities of women’s merchandising on an interim basis.
Ms.
Breuer received her Master’s Degree in fashion design and styling from
Istituto Marangoni and over the past 13 years has held various
merchandising and design roles at high-end fashion brands such as
Valentino, as well as at Abercrombie & Fitch.
The company
also stated that it expects its non-GAAP loss from continuing operations
per diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 to be generally
in line with analysts’ consensus estimates of $(0.03), which compares
favorably to the company’s previously issued non-GAAP guidance of
$(0.08) to $(0.02).
“Sales trends across the business have
generally improved in both June and July with Men’s again on track to
achieve a positive comp for the second quarter,” said Gary H.
Schoenfeld, President and CEO of Pacific Sunwear. “Based on the strength
of our brand assortment, along with our leadership position with the
Men’s jogger for back-to-school, we expect Men’s to continue its
positive momentum as we look ahead to the third quarter.”
Schoenfeld continued: “With respect to our Women’s business, we are
focused on four key areas: (1) Increasing the penetration of brands,
which further differentiates us from our competitors in the mall; (2)
Leveraging the vision of our design team even more by leading with new
trends; (3) Strengthening our non-apparel business; and (4) Driving
growth online.”
Lee served as senior vice president/general merchandise manager, women’s
apparel, accessories and design at Pacific Sunwear since 2010. During her tenure, she
played an integral role in the strategic repositioning and turnaround of
the women’s division. Prior to Pacific Sunwear, Lee spent 18 years
with Urban Outfitters, Inc. Her last job at Urban was general merchandise manager, women’s apparel & accessories
and Urban Renewal & Design.
“I appreciate all of the efforts Christine has
put forth over the past four years to help re-position the PacSun
business,” said Mr. Schoenfeld. “I am eager to work even more closely
with Brie and the rest of our Women’s team to successfully tackle our
key initiatives. I am excited by several recent creative concepts coming
from our design team and optimistic that the Women’s business can soon
get back to positive comps as well.”
