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Published
Oct 8, 2020
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Marimekko fills key management roles, is to cut 20 jobs in Finland

Published
Oct 8, 2020

Marimekko has named Dan Trapp as its Chief Sales Officer (CSO) and a member of the Management Group. He’ll start in the position on November 2. He replaces Morten Israelsen, who leaves on October 16 “by mutual consent”.


Marimekko



He was previously Salomon’s Global VP Apparel & Gear, where he was also a member of the Executive Committee. He has extensive international experience in sales and commercial leadership roles in global apparel and sporting goods companies and his expertise ranges across distribution channels and models as well as go-to-market strategies, the company said.

At the same time, Sanna-Kaisa Niikko becomes Marimekko’s Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and also a member of the Management Group. This is an internal appointment and she starts this week.

She’s had a 15-year career at Marimekko, most recently as Global Creative Brand Marketing Director leading visual communications, social media and community engagement, public relations and brand collaborations. She’s held numerous positions in the firm’s marketing and sales organisations both in Finland and internationally. 

The news came at the same time as the company said its consultative negotiations regarding its reorganisation in Finland and elsewhere Scandinavia, North America and Australia, announced on 13 August, have been completed. 

The aim is to streamline the company’s operations “to better respond to the structural changes in the fashion and specialty retail sector and the dramatic transformation of consumers’ purchasing behaviour, accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic”. It had been seeking cost savings of €1.5 million. 

But the company said the consultation showed it could achieve the reorganisation it wants “with fairly moderate job reductions while attaining total annual cost savings of around €1.3 million”.

In Finland, the changes will involve a maximum of 52 jobs and will lead to the termination of at least 20 staff members. The others “will be offered a new or a modified job”.

President and CEO Tiina Alahuhta-Kasko said of both announcements: “The global fashion industry is in disruption accelerated by the coronavirus pandemic: consumers’ values and purchasing behaviour are changing and the fashion business model is transforming, driven by digitisation. With disruption come also new opportunities and we firmly believe that our strategy is strongly positioned to capture the long-term growth opportunities for the sustainable, timeless and unique Marimekko lifestyle that the aforementioned industry mega-trends support. Dan and Sanna-Kaisa will both have integral roles in this joint journey.”

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