Paul Stuart Shakes Up Management

Paul Stuart, the high-end apparel boutique now owned by Mitsui & Co. Ltd. (Tokyo) has shaken up its executive team to “assure a seamless and strategic extension of the Paul Stuart brand architecture as we pursue a myriad of growth plans and opportunities,” according to president and ceo Michael Ostrove.

As reported by Women’s Wear Daily, Bob Green, most recently president of Façonnable USA Corp. (New York), has been named chief merchandising officer/general manager/general merchandise manager, responsible for all new retail development, store management, staffing and merchandising; Ralph Auriemma, longtime designer of the company’s younger-skewed Phineas Cole label, has been named design director, overseeing all product development; and Thomas Mastronardi, who has spent the past 18 months consulting with the retailer as director of marketing, president of Thomas Mastronardi and Associates, has been named chief marketing officer, overseeing all brand architecture, creative development and advertising.

Also, Michio Fujii, a Mitsui veteran in both Japan and Italy, has been named chief financial officer.

Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Paul Stuart brand, Mitsui said it plans to expand the company’s presence in the U.S., where it currently operates stores only in in New York and Chicago, as well as in Asia, where there are about 100 brand shops in Japan.