ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°146 - Janvier/Février 2013 - 16

FOCUS

By Éric PESTEL (84),
Delegate of the Fashion and Apparel Business
Group

Welcome to
the club!

If you want to enter a think tank and a best practices
exchange place, don’t hesitate and go to the Fashion and
Apparel Business Group with Éric PESTEL.
Fifteen years ago, I joined ESMOD, an international fashion school, as a new Communication and
International Development Director. The School
was well connected with fashion designers,
creation studio and Trends and style agencies,
but poorly connected with Brand managers and
Retail operational directors. So, I called the Alumni
Association to know who was in charge of the
Fashion and Apparel Business Group, and since
there was no such group, I was invited to create
it, what I did.
A dynamic group
Alain WIART (81) and I organized a breakfast to
gage interest: 35 people showed up, and 8 volunteered to join the piloting committee. Although the
team has changed over time, the structure has remained. The piloting committee meets once every
four months to uncover the main industry trends,
from production to retailing via all aspects of ready
to wear, leather and accessory product development and brand management.
After selecting the topics and the panelists, two or
three members manage future events. In the past,
we used to include dinner, but to give more time
to the speakers and to decrease costs we now
prefer a conference format followed by a cocktail
for networking and personal questions from the
guests. The event «Made in France», organized by
Claire Le Nail (82) and Sophie DROUARD (80)
followed this format and was highlighted by the
medias. Among the 7 guests were Jean-Marc
Gaucher, President of Repetto, and Christian
Blanckaert, President of Petit Bateau.
Being surprising and ahead of the curve also influences our choices. This is what we tried to do
with our last event, «winning retail organization
despite the crisis», imagined and facilitated by
Sophie Drouard.

- ESCP Europe Magazine N° 146 - Janvier/Février 2013

From one event to another one
We represent an international school and education system, this aspect is crucial in the evolution
of our industry on both ends of the chain, production and retail, and is regularly reflected in our
events. I took the opportunity of the stay in Paris
of Christophe Cais, CEO of Albatross, a mystery
shopping company based in Shanghai for a conference about the Chinese consumer. More recently
Alain Wiart and Sophie DROUARD invited Fadi
Jabbour, COO of the retail at the Chalhoub Group
in Dubai and Jinnan Lagrari, General Manager of
the Morrocco mall in Casablanca, in Paris for the
event «Does the Arab Spring impact the fashion
consumption and retail?».
We also tried successfully other types of events
such as the visit of exhibitions (the last one was organized by Anne-Cécile VIDAL (94) at Musée des
Arts Décoratifs) or a lunch with one guest: Yohan
RUSO (01) who moved from the e-commerce to
the brick and mortar!
But the most interesting of the Fashion and
Apparel Business Group activities will be the next
ones: Yann RIVOALLAN (MSQ 03) and Antoine
d’ARIFAT (93) are preparing a meeting about
the new services of e-commerce, and Than Lan
Nguyen (EAP 86), Pascale DAMBOURNET (84)
and Anne-Cécile VIDAL, another one about the
new means to increase the customers’ethics.
If you want to join us, you are most welcome either
meeting us after one of the next events, joining
us on the International Luxury and Fashion and
Apparel business LinkedIn sub-group or sending
us a mail. There is yet a lot of things to do here
and in the different countries where ESCP Europe
Alumni has geographical groups with always the
same enthusiasm!
●

Table des matières de la publication ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°146 - Janvier/Février 2013

Couverture
Zapping
Sommaire
BUSINESS
Personnalités du mois Nos 700 délégués : À nos ambassadeurs
Focus
- Get involved
- L'attractivité touristique
- Get in touch!
- Welcome to the club
- Partager son savoir
- Rendre ce qui a été donné
- Dynamism
- Un réseau de talents
- Create opportunities
- Get on board!
- Stronger together
- Dynamiser le réseau régional
- For a common success
- Be incentive!
- Be passionate!
- Ne rouillez pas !
- Expand your network
Itinéraires
- Deviens qui tu es !
- Practice of fine art
Entretiens
- Transports
- Conseil
- Agro-alimentaire
NEWS
Vie du réseau
- Adel FEKIH (MBA 09)
- Nouvelle rencontre
- Tour à Vaugaudry
- London Campus open doors & Carnet
- Filleul cherche parrain
- Escapade en Bourgogne & Agenda
- Nominations
Carrière Quand les délégués créent pour les entrepreneurs
Voyages De grands moments au pays des paradoxes
À lire
CAMPUS
École
- Blue Factory fait peau neuve
- Engagez-vous à nos côtés !
Fondation Les entreprises pour ESCP Europe
Vie étudiante
- ESCaPe
- Tout sauf la fin du monde…

ESCP Europe Alumni Magazine - n°146 - Janvier/Février 2013