Mr. Van der Vis will be appointed as Group CEO on or before November 1, 2009. In his future role as Executive Director and Group CEO, he will assume responsibility for the total Group with a special focus on the Esprit brand.

Current Chairman and Group CEO, Mr. Heinz Krogner, will simultaneously resign as Group CEO upon Mr. Van der Vis succeeding his role as Group CEO. Mr. Krogner will actively participate as Executive Chairman to ensure a smooth transition and he intends to remain as Executive Chairman until December 2010. Mr. Krogner will then actively participate as Executive Chairman and continue his strategic involvement in steering the Company's success as well as providing leadership to the Board.

Mr. Van der Vis is a lifestyle-conscious CEO with 11 years of brand building and retail experience in an international environment. Since 2004 he has served as the Group CEO of Pearle Europe, a leading inter-national retail group operating 2,600 stores (of which 600 are franchise stores) in 24 countries with sales of Euros 1.5 billion.

Ronald is an excellent match for the Esprit family, both in terms of business background and personality. His appointment as Esprit's new Group CEO is particularly based on his successful international retail experience. Since over 50% of Esprit's sales is based on wholesales to independent stores, it is important that Esprit is headed by a CEO who understands the requirements of our retail partners. We are confident that Ronald will provide outstanding leadership for our company, said Heinz Krogner, Chairman and Group CEO.

I am delighted and honored to join Esprit and to continue the excellent achievements so far under the leadership of Heinz Krogner. I am excited to further capitalize on Esprit's full international potential in the coming years, said Ronald van der Vis.