Mr Rafael Pastor Espuch will be appointed as the new Chief Product Officer of the Group with effect from 4 November 2013. In this role, Mr Pastor will report directly to the Group Chief Executive Officer and will be part of the executive management team. Mr Pastor will be responsible for managing the product creation and design of all product divisions of the Esprit brand.

Mr Pastor’s extensive experience spans commercial strategy, product design, production, planning and distribution during his almost 18 years in Industria De Diseño Textil, S.A. (“Inditex”). For twelve years, February 2001 to January 2013, he has been executive director of “Zara Basic”, a woman product division of Zara, where he managed over two billion euro sales, reaching over 80 countries and 5 continents, with consistent like-for-like sales growth over the past recent years.

Prior to this role, between 1995 and 2001, he served as product manager for Zara shoes, as the international clothing product manager for the United States, Greece and the Middle East market, and as controller of another woman division. Mr Pastor obtained a Bachelor degree in Economic and Business Studies from the University of Madrid, Spain.