Proenza Schouler founders Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez step down

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez, newcomers to the fashion world when they founded their brand in 2002, launched from their senior thesis project at Parsons School of Design, where they met in 1998.

Now, 23 years later and approximately three months after hiring new CEO Shira Suveyke Snyder, the brand announced that the design duo would step down on January 31.

They will remain shareholders in the company, sit on the board of directors and help Suveyke Snyder find a new creative director to ensure “uninterrupted operations,” according to a press release released by the brand. While the move came as a surprise to many in the industry, it was noted that the brand was absent from the New York Fashion Week schedule and showed outside of the schedule last season.

“We founded Proenza Schouler in our early twenties and have had an extraordinary journey that we could only have dreamed of at the time. We count ourselves lucky to have had the freedom, over the years, to constantly push back our creative boundaries and refine our craft while slowly building a strong and stable brand Our twentieth anniversary has been a time of deep reflection for us. The time seems right to make the personal decision to step away from our leadership role. daily life of the company and to hand over the creative reins to someone new We have always valued risk-taking and a sense of adventure and we feel ready to embrace what lies ahead The arrival of Shira Suveyke Snyder. at the helm of the company was a crucial step in this direction. We have every confidence in her and are convinced that, under her leadership, Proenza Schouler will continue to evolve, develop and reach its full potential. indicates the press release.

“Proenza Schouler has always been a deeply autobiographical story, one that has evolved, developed and grown along with us, mirroring our lives over the past two decades. Although it is never easy to change, this decision – which we have carefully considered – seems to us to be the right step at the right time, at this stage of our lives. Working every day with the extraordinary teams we have built at Proenza Schouler, who are like family to us. We, We will never have been able to achieve the successes we have experienced over the years without their hard work and dedication to our vision, nor could we have endured the tougher times without their support and faith. “Proenza Schouler has been a huge team effort, and we are very happy to know that the future of the brand is in good hands, guided by grace, passion and unwavering commitment.” , added Jack McCollough.

The founder, president and chief investment officer of Mudrick Capital Management, Jason Mudrick, has been the brand’s investor since 2018. According to a source familiar with the matter, the CEO change last October was sudden and without ceremonial. The brand has since decided to move its store to Mercer Street, which will open in February, which makes the timing of the decision interesting.

This decision was apparently motivated by the proximity of the Khaite brand store. The source also said the brand had been hemorrhaging money due to a decline in the lucrative handbag market and a plateauing of design innovation. The company is reportedly considering launching a men’s line. Since November, the brand has held two prototype sales, including one at the time of writing this article.

Gary Wassner, CEO of designer-loving Hildun, felt the brand suffered from the problems faced by many young brands.

“They never had the traction that everyone expected from them in the industry. They went through several different investors,” he said, noting that he loved the brand two years ago , but he got tired of it. “So change is a good thing.”

Rumors that McCollough and Hernandez are abandoning ship to take Jonathan Anderson’s place at Loewe are also circulating. These rumors were supported by HSBC (a bank whose US operations failed), which made creative director predictions to resolve the stagnant performance of Dior’s women’s ready-to-wear by replacing Maria Grazia Chiuri with Anderson , who finally made Loewe a success after the failure of Victor Alfaro and Stuart Vevers, and who has his own brand.

It is true that the brand has presented its collection in Paris on several occasions, a move that is considered a test for European conglomerates, assuming that the speculation about Loewe occurs, it is a delicate commercial timing that depends mainly on the serendipity of several major fashion powers.

Change at Proenza Schouler is occurring at a breakneck pace among European fashion houses. Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Givenchy, Lanvin, Celine, Dries Van Noten, Tom Ford, Missoni, Alberta Ferretti, Blumarine and even the still-profitable Miu Miu have all appointed new creative directors.

In New York, where the replacement of top designers is atypical, change is also underway. Phillip Lim is leaving his eponymous brand and his successor has not yet been appointed. Calvin Klein appears to be emerging from the fashion designer graveyard by naming Italian designer Veronica Leoni as designer of Quira, who will present the brand’s first ready-to-wear (and designer-level) collection next February during NYFW since the departure of Raf Simons in 2018. The eponymous brand’s founder, Calvin Klein, stepped down in 2000, but remained as consulting creative director and was eventually replaced by Francisco Costa in 2003 (although there was some overlap), who held the position until 2016. Although he has failed so far, it remains to be seen if Veronica Leoni can get him off the ground again.

The story of Kate Spade after its founding is similar. In 2008, creative director Deborah Lloyd led the brand to even greater success than Spade, but she left in 2017. Her replacements, Nicola Glass, from 2017 to 2021, and the team of designers who followed failed to achieve Lloyd’s level of success with the brand. Halston is another story of unsuccessful successors, whose names are too numerous to count, but all leave the mark without having regained its former glory.

It is not easy, far from it, to succeed the founding designers. Ask Peter Som, designer, creative director, lifestyle expert and cookbook author. Around 2008, Som became the fifth designer to succeed Bill Blass.

“When I look back, it’s a balancing act to absorb the DNA of the brand, what it stands for, and how to evolve it by bringing my own creativity to make it harmonize with theirs. You need a designer who can put themselves in the brand’s shoes, understand it in depth and have a fresh perspective to envision the future and implement it in all areas. This person must also understand. commercial activity and how to develop it through product,” Peter Som told FashionNetwork.com.

According to Peter Som, the choice of who takes over at Proenza Schouler will largely depend on the CEO’s vision for the brand.

“It’s a globally recognized brand, an incredible name that they’ve built. It’s always a challenge when a founder leaves a brand in the US or Europe. They’ve established a strong, clean, luxurious and minimal with an artistic sensibility, so it’s an exciting opportunity for them Depending on their goals, the right candidate will want to grow the business. So it’s about finding the right person and understanding the brand. a process,” he added.

Perhaps the biggest problem in New York is the fate of the eponymous brands Ralph Lauren and Michael Kors, which appear ready to move on. (Lauren is 85, and Kors likely lost his ticket out when the FTC blocked Tapestry Inc.’s acquisition of Capri Holdings.)

The departures of McCollough and Hernandez also leave an irreplaceable void at NYFW, which has seen a dearth of major fashion players of late.