Moose Knuckles expands leadership role for Victor Luis

Canadian luxury outerwear and sportswear brand, Moose Knuckles, has announced a new corporate structure to drive the brand’s new global vision, including expanding Victor Luis’ leadership role.

Luis, the former Tapestry Inc. chief executive, joined Moose Knuckles as an investor and executive chairman in June, and now the Canadian luxury brand has confirmed that it is expanding his role to include chief executive officer to “propel global growth and expansion”.

In a statement, Moose Knuckles said that following several months of Luis working alongside co-founders Noah Stern and Ayal Twik that the company had decided that Luis would drive the brand’s global vision, while Stern and Twik would lead the creative aspects of the business as chief product officer and chief marketing officer, respectively.

Commenting on the new structure, Twik said in a statement: “I am super excited to be able to focus full time on what I love which is driving culture, brand building and fostering consumer engagement.

“I could not be more thrilled about our quickly increasing growth and scale and the strong teams we have in place to execute our strategies. This change in corporate structure will allow me to focus on areas I am passionate about.”

Stern, added: “I could not be more proud of the global luxury brand we have built and the exceptional products we continue to bring to market. Our coats and parkas are rated as the world’s warmest, and as we expand our offering into other seasons, I am so charged to focus all my energies on continuing to break boundaries in creating killer fashion products of the highest quality.”

Both Stern and Twik will retain their board seats and maintain their respective shares of ownership in the company.

Victor Luis named chief executive officer at Moose Knuckles and increases investment

Luis made a “significant investment” in Moose Knuckles in June and the Canadian brand added he is increasing his investment, as well as expanding his role from shareholder and executive chairman to include chief executive officer.

On Luis being named chief executive officer, Twik and Stern added: “Victor is one of the rare leaders in the industry – one who has a commercial view to business while maintaining and inspiring a deep respect and passion for the creative process. We admire the way he thinks about business, luxury, culture, and the fashion industry as a whole. He also shares our belief in the importance of a culture-led company that is focused on creating memorable consumer experiences one client at a time.

“We have a strong management team in place and are excited to have Victor as the company’s chairman and chief executive officer as we prepare to capture the tremendous opportunity ahead for long-term global brand growth.”

When Luis came on board, Moose Knuckles stated that the industry veteran would help it to broaden and accelerate its expansion, with a particular focus on China. Currently, Moose Knuckles operates 17 brick-and-mortar stores, including three in China, and it shared plans to open an additional ten stores by the end of 2022.

Over the past five years, Moose Knuckles has continued to track significant double-digit year-over-year growth. Last year alone, the brand experienced a nearly triple-digit increase in direct-to-consumer sales, along with 12 times growth in China, despite the challenges of the pandemic.

Moose Knuckles announces increased investment and expanded leadership role of chief executive for shareholder and executive chairman Victor Luis

On the future of Moose Knuckles, Luis said: “There has never been a more exciting time for branded luxury outerwear and Moose Knuckles is poised to become the next big player in the global market. My family’s increased equity investment is a reflection of our excitement over what we have learned during the last several months and the tremendous opportunity for growth ahead of us.

“Moose Knuckles’ recent organisational changes are built to capture and accelerate growth as we continue to recruit top talent and transform systems and processes to support the brand’s global expansion and elevate our capacity to execute at the highest levels.”

As well as targeting China, Moose Knuckles is focusing on increasing its global brick-and-mortar footprint to more than 35 stores and pop-ups. This will help to increase its reach beyond its successful wholesale business, where it is currently found in more than 30 countries worldwide in Selfridges, Holt Renfrew, Saks Fifth Avenue, Isetan, and Lane Crawford.

The Canadian outerwear is also looking to place significant investment behind its e-commerce flagship, as it focuses on “more meaningful direct-to-consumer experiences”.

This is alongside Moose Knuckles new sustainability strategy in July where it said it would end all production with natural fur by the end of 2022. As part of its new range of environmental and social initiatives focused on the long-term sustainability of its global footprint, it also added that it would make and move products sustainably, with the apparel company stating that it would completely eliminate conventional cotton, virgin polyester, and virgin nylon in its garments by the end of 2025.