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Bally promotes COO Nicolas Girotto to CEO role
Bally has made a key change at the top. The Swiss luxury footwear label has announced the promotion of Chief Operations Officer Nicolas Girotto to the role of CEO, while Frédéric de Narp, who led the company since 2013, takes on the new post of vice-president. Before joining Bally, de Narp notably worked at Cartier, and engineered the relaunch of US jewellery brand Harry Winston.
Girotto was born in France but lives in Switzerland. He joined Bally in October 2015 and sits on the label’s board of directors and executive committee. He has a 20-year-plus experience in fashion and retail distribution worldwide.
Before joining Bally, Girotto was the chief financial officer of The Nuance Group, a leader in airport and duty-free retail. Before then, he worked with Italian fast-fashion retailer Conbipel and with Dutch optics giant GrandVision, where he started his career in 1997, notably working for the GrandOptical chain in Italy and France.
“Under de Narp’s leadership, the company has delivered strong financial performance with a 35% operating profit increase in 2018, matched by operational progress which has seen a visible demographic shift towards younger, more affluent customers,” wrote the label in a press release, underlining also the favourable reception of its “fully integrated omni-channel platform, which has materially expanded the Bally footprint” worldwide.
“Nicolas Girotto will continue the brand strategy implemented together with Frédéric de Narp,” stated the label, mentioning also Bally's current and future initiatives like, among others, the store openings in Beijing, at the China World shopping mall, taking place this month, and in Milan, on prestigious via Montenapoleone, planned for this summer. Also, Bally is premièring on China’s Tmall Luxury website, and the label is enjoying a “strong performance in eyewear generated through the new licence with Marcolin which launched in April.”
FashionNetwork.com has learned from a source that giant Chinese textile group Shandong Ruyi, which announced last year the intention of acquiring a majority stake in Bally, currently owned by Luxembourg-based German investor JAB, has not yet finalised the acquisition.
“Since the operation has not yet been concluded, JAB - the majority shareholder which has supported the footwear label for over a decade - continues to be Bally’s owner,” a Bally spokesperson told FashionNetwork.com.
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