Dive Brief:
- After naming her co-CEO earlier this year, Pacsun co-CEO Brie Olson will become the company’s chief executive officer effective June 15, the company announced on Thursday.
- Mike Relich will retire as co-CEO and will become vice chairman of the company’s board of directors.
- The company has named Russell Bowers as its COO. Bowers will also continue to serve as Pacsun’s CFO, where he will manage the company’s finance, operations and information technology components.
Dive Insight:
Pacsun appointed Brie Olson as co-CEO in early March. She replaced Alfred Chang, who departed the company to become the CEO of the luxury streetwear brand Fear of God.
“Brie is a respected veteran and bold pioneer in the fashion industry and has been a key driver of Pacsun’s success,” Neale Attenborough, a managing director at Golden Gate Capital, said in a statement. “She has gained critical expertise in numerous leadership positions during her 17 years at the company and has her finger on the pulse of emerging brands and trends. The board has the utmost confidence that Pacsun will continue to thrive under her leadership.”
Altogether, Olson has worked with Pacsun for 17 years, including acting as the company’s chief merchandising officer for menswear and womenswear. She introduced Pacsun’s first gender neutral collection, Colour Theory, and oversaw Pacsun’s entry into the kids’ category. Olson is continuing to lead the company’s AI and metaverse initiatives.
Besides updating its leadership, the company is also enhancing its digital and brick-and-mortar strategies. Earlier this month, Pacsun announced plans to showcase its summer 2023 campaign via TikTok livestreams. This week the company introduced a curated collection of streetwear, sneakers and accessories via its resale platform, PS Reserve. The collection launch took place alongside the opening of its second PS Reserve store-within-a-store concept at a Pacsun location at Glendale Galleria in California.
Additionally, Pacsun’s Los Angeles Tycoon virtual experience on Roblox garnered 7 million visitors in under 10 weeks. The company partnered with the virtual gaming platform to launch the venture earlier this year. Within the virtual environment, players could connect with others, see 20 digital items inspired by its spring 2023 clothing collection and build a digital rendering of downtown Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Hollywood.
