La Martina names new vice president

Argentinian premium label La Martina has named Alessandro Santamaria as its new vice president.

In his new role, Santamaria will be tasked with continuing the brand’s digitization push and expanding it into new markets.

Santamaria joins from e-commerce company Giglio Group, where he held the position of managing director. Earlier in his career, he was general manager of Italiantouch, a company in charge of devising and managing the e-commerce strategy of the Tod's Group brands.

“I am very happy with the arrival of Alessandro Santamaria, who will be in charge of the development of the brand with the task of strengthening existing business and guiding the company towards the integrated digitization of the entire supply chain, while guaranteeing the right support for growth in European and international markets,” said La Martina founder Lando Simonetti in a statement.

Santamaria said he will work with the company’s current team to “support the brand in facing the important challenges imposed by a global situation that has radically changed in the last couple of years, through a change in consumer habits, a transformation of distribution channels and new competitive scenarios”.

He said: “It will therefore be necessary to come up with innovative strategies to trigger increases in turnover both for the brand and for the individual retailers who distribute La Martina.”

Since its founding in Buenos Aires in 1985, La Martina has expanded in Latin America, as well as into Europe, the Middle East and North Africa.

Today, the company has 100 single-brand stores - including flagship stores in London, Paris, Dubai, Johannesburg, Buenos Aires, New Delhi, Riyadh and Cairo - and 600 multi-brand stores.