Esprit - Fashion Company Profile
Esprit is the lifestyle brand born in California in 1968, when Susie and Doug Tompkins sold homemade fashion from the back of a station wagon - grown into a global brand run from Dusseldorf and Hong Kong, with EUR 2.8 billion of turnover in its 2006/2007 peak filing. After the insolvency of its European operations in 2024 and a Chapter 7 filing in the United States, the brand continues under a licensing model, with its European textile rights held by Deichmann's fasbra SE.
Company Snapshot
- Status
- Brand operating under a licensing model - Esprit's European operations entered insolvency in May 2024 and closed in 2025, with the European textile brand rights sold to Deichmann's fasbra SE; its US operations filed Chapter 7 in October 2024; Esprit Holdings now licenses the brand outside Europe
- Type
- Public - Esprit Holdings Limited, Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 330
- Headquarters
- Hong Kong (Esprit Holdings Limited)
- Founded
- 1968, in California, by Susie and Doug Tompkins
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Company Profile
The figures in the record below - turnover, store counts, the ten ranges and the license list - belong to the 2006/2007 filing and are kept in full on the history page as the record of Esprit at its global peak. The brand's products continue to be sold by its licensees and through its own site, linked above, which is the authority for the current ranges.
Whilst the opting out of the founding partners in the 1970s turned Esprit USA into an independent company, the international enthusiasm for this new lifestyle increased around the globe with the construction of Esprit headquarters in Europe (Dusseldorf) and Asia (Hong Kong). In 1976, Esprit started out in Germany with the name Esprit de Corp. with young outerwear, and rapidly became one of the most successful lifestyle companies on the European market. Since the complete buying back of the American brand rights in April 2002, Esprit has become one of the few global companies to own 100 per cent of a worldwide brand - a structural fact the filing prizes, because it lets one lifestyle idea be run the same way on three continents.
Esprit History
The earlier record for this company - its history, past brand line-ups, figures and photographs from the periods described - is kept on a separate page for historical reference.
Esprit History & Historical Profile →Common Questions
How did Esprit start?
In California in 1968, when Susie and Doug Tompkins sold homemade fashion from the backseat of a station wagon; Esprit started in Germany in 1976 as Esprit de Corp., and bought back the American brand rights completely in April 2002, in the historical record.
How big was Esprit in the filing's figures?
In the 2006/2007 business year, worldwide group turnover of around EUR 2.8 billion and net profits of around EUR 488 million, with more than 650 directly managed stores, more than 14,000 wholesale locations and sales area in more than 40 countries, in the historical record.
What is edc by Esprit?
The young range founded in 1998 for girls from 14 to 24, with edc men established in 2002; since 2007 edc by Esprit has been an independent brand with its own team and stand-alone stores, in the historical record.
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