The managerial shake-up at Bogner is continuing this year with the departure of two members of its management board, about four months after Andreas Baumgärtner became chief executive of the upmarket German skiwear and fashion brand.
Bogner announced yesterday the departure of Christian Ender, chief sales officer, and Jon Jarlgaard, chief operations officer. The company said that it would replace Ender in the same position, but added that the operations function would no longer constitute a separate board division.
Ender joined Bogner two years ago to supervise international sales and he became chief sales officer in September 2016. He previously spent about ten years at Hugo Boss and another two with Louis Vuitton. Jarlgaard, who previously worked for Hugo Boss as well as Escada, joined the German skiwear company in August 2016.
Bogner said that the two board members were leaving by mutual agreement and that their performance contributed to the positive development in pre-orders for the 2018 fall winter range.
A former executive at Marc O'Polo, Baumgärtner joined Bogner in November 2016 to take charge of sales and marketing, and he became chief executive in November. This came after the abrupt departure of Alexander Wirth, who had himself taken over from Willy Bogner and had been in the job for just about one year.
Baumgärtner is facing an uphill task to whip up sales of the German skiwear company, which have been under pressure in the last years. Bogner previously outlined a strategy to expand the brand's sales to about €300 million in 2022, up from about €200 million including the turnover of licensees. However, it appears that the priority for the management is to halt the decline as it implements its strategic changes.
Baumgärtner said at Ispo Munich earlier this year that the company remained relatively stable in a few countries such as the U.S. and Russia, but less so in the German-speaking countries, which make up about 45 percent of sales. Bogner is also preparing to open a store in a Chinese ski resort. The company currently has 19 own Bogner stores and 54 partner stores.
Among the strategic measures already set in motion last year, Baumgärtner said in Munich that he wanted to tweak the positioning of the Bogner brand and more strongly differentiate the Fire and Ice brand. The appearance of the two brands was becoming increasingly similar as Fire and Ice, which was launched as a snowboard brand, was turning into a cheaper version of Bogner.
Under a strategic plan dubbed Bogner Now or Bogner Modern, the Bogner brand is to be rejuvenated. Baumgärtner wants to stick with Bogner's positioning as a luxury skiwear brand but with a less opulent and flashy appearance. The group presented a new iteration of Fire and Ice at Ispo Munich, which has become much more functional and associated with freeskiing. The clearer distinction between the two brands could make it easier for the company to get both brands taken up by retail partners.
Another objective was to make sure that the sports and fashion pieces could be mixed and matched, in line with contemporary clothing habits. Bogner showed the result of this approach at the Berlin Fashion Week in January, using garments in matching color schemes for the sport and fashion products.
It remains unclear what motivated the departure of the two board members, which was described by the company as part of its restructuring process and reorganisation. Another management board member, Marcus Breyer, who became chief financial officer in February last year, remains with the company.
As previously reported, the supervisory board already underwent changes last year. A few weeks after Wirth's sudden departure, the supervisory board chairman, Jürgen Weber, left the company, along with Herbert Henzler, another board member. Weber was replaced with Wolfgang Reitzle, former chief executive at Linde and the remaining board seat was taken over by Rosemarie Haber.
