COO Takao Kuwahara will succeed
Hauptkorn’s Chanel transfer was announced by British Retail week and Uniqlo has since then confirmed the news, although it refused to comment any further. The only thing it had to add was that the current COO (Chief Operating Officer) Takao Kuwahara will succeed Hauptkorn as CEO. At Chanel, Hauptkorn will supervise the retail and wholes activities for the fashion, accessory, watch and cosmetic branches of the company.
The German only joined the Japanese retail concern three years ago and was installed as Uniqlo Europe’s CEO, while also occupying a seat as Fast Retailing’s vice president, which is Uniqlo’s parent company. Prior to that, he was luxury accessory brand Bally’s CEO from 2009 to 2012 after he had been Labelux Group’s CEO, which then proceeded to buy the Swiss accessory company in 2008.
