Exclusive: Lemaire names Laetitia Mergui general manager

By

Olivier Guyot

Translated by
Cassidy STEPHENS

Published
Oct 31, 2022

Lemaire has a new general manager. FashionNetwork.com has learned that Laetita Mergui, who had been Chloé's regional director for the Asia-Pacific region since mid-2018, will be leading the Parisian house. She is taking over from Catherine Jacquet, who had been head of the company since 2019.

"Laetitia has a strong natural link with Lemaire's values," explained Christophe Lemaire and Sarah-Linh Tran, the creative duo still leading the brand. "Her human qualities and her understanding of our creative universe will allow us to reinforce the development of our teams united by common convictions and the same passion for intelligently thought-out and carefully crafted clothing and accessories."

Mergui graduated from HEC and the University of Paris Panthéon-Assas and began her career in London in law firms specializing in international business law. It is then in Hong Kong that the executive joined her first luxury house in 2011. She became director of operations in Asia of the luxury brand Balmain, which at the time was still owned by Alain Hivelin. In 2012, she also took over the accessories activity of the house, which she left in 2017.

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Still in Hong Kong, the executive led the Asian and Middle Eastern activities of The Kooples for a year and a half, before joining the Richemont group in 2019 to develop its activity, as well as that of the See by Chloé line, in Asia Pacific.

Her expertise in Asian markets should be a strong asset for the Lemaire brand, the vast majority of whose business is conducted outside of France and particularly in Asian markets.

"This appointment comes at a strategic time for the brand, which is expanding its global reach and preparing to open several flagship stores," the brand said.

The label, created in 1990 and whose capital is shared between the creative directors and the Japanese group Fast Retailing, reported a profitable turnover of more than 26 million euros for its fiscal year ending March 2021, an increase of more than 50% compared to the previous year.