Apple has just made another significant hire from the global fashion industry: Yves Saint Laurent’s Europe President and Retail Head Catherine Monier. Sources say that Monier left the Paris, France-based fashion icon earlier this summer and that she started at Apple within the last few weeks. The sources added that former Yves Saint Laurent CEO Paul Deneve, who joined Apple last year to work on “Special Projects” under Apple CEO Tim Cook, was behind the hire and that Monier will work on Deneve’s team…
Monier began working at Yves Saint Laurent in 2012, and prior to working under Deneve in France, she worked in various executive retail and wholesale roles at several fashion brands in the Paris area.
Sources say that Deneve’s team at Apple has been working on new strategies for Apple’s official retail stores in order to make the stores more capable of selling and marketing fashion and wearable goods. The timing of Monier’s placement on this team is also no coincidence: Apple is gearing up to launch a fashion and fitness-oriented wearable band this fall, and Apple will need all the expertise in selling fashion goods that it can get its hands on prior to the launch.
The recent appointments of Deneve and Monier come as former Burberry CEO Angela Ahrendts transitions into Apple’s Senior Vice President of Retail and Online Stores position. As a trio of fashion industry executives, along with lesser-known players such as former Burberry Social Media Marketing Head Musa Tariq, Apple has the ability to combine acumen in fashion with its established expertise in sensor-packed gadgets with fitness and health-oriented software.
Apple and a Yves Saint Laurent representative have yet not responded to requests for comment.
