Safilo Group, the Italian eyewear specialist, has selected the recently renovated Salvation Army building in Southeast Portland to house its Pacific Coast Design Center, which will lead the company's new global sports & outdoor lifestyle division. The center will develop all of Safilo's current and potential brands and products targeted at this consumer segment.
The historic building will also be the headquarters for Smith’s product development, marketing, sales operations and e-commerce groups, which will relocate from Idaho. Safilo promoted Chatham Baker to Creative Director and named Drew Chilson Head of Product Creation for the new center. Both have spent 10 years at Smith and will report directly to Eric Carlson, who was recently named Global Design and Marketing Director after 18 years at Smith, where he will continue to drive the brand.
In addition, Ron Hayes will take on the interim responsibility of overseeing the North American sports sales channel as an expansion of his current role as Integration Leader. Under Hayes, regional sales territories/sales units will continue to be managed by Rob Retzlaff, Scott Oliver, Mark Phares, Brian Cotsonas, Peter Crow, Mike Torres, and Darrell Tullis.
“We have a very experienced team of leaders who will continue to run the day-to-day business successfully. Temporarily adding Ron’s 20 years of experience as the CFO of Smith on top gives us great confidence that we will come out of the gates stronger than ever, “ said Thorsten Brandt, Safilo CMO and SMITH Brand Leader.
Safilo expects to occupy the building in April.
