Tom Tailor parts ways with DTC head Paul Pörtner

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Paul Pörtner Credits: Tom Tailor

Tom Tailor and Paul Pörtner, general manager direct to consumer, are parting ways. Pörtner will leave the Hamburg-based clothing manufacturer at the end of August "by mutual agreement". Tom Tailor announced this on Wednesday on the career network, LinkedIn. He held this role for around three years.

Tom Tailor CEO, Gernot Lenz, thanked Pörtner for his clarity, openness and "valuable contribution to the development of Tom Tailor during challenging times." Together with his team, Pörtner successfully strengthened the direct-to-consumer segment. He achieved this during a period marked by volatile markets and economic pressures, strengthening both sales growth and profitability.

Turnover for the brand, which has been part of the Chinese conglomerate Fosun since 2020, fell by 3.9 percent year-over-year to 588 million euros in the 2024 financial year. The wholesale business, which accounted for the largest share of total revenue at 52 percent, saw a decline of 6.1 percent. The direct to consumer division achieved sales parity compared to 2023 thanks to strong business in Southern and Eastern Europe. On a like-for-like basis, revenue grew by 3.4 percent.

Prior to his time at Tom Tailor, Pörtner worked for fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg – Düsseldorf and Vienna – in various positions since the early 2000s. Most recently, he was head of international sales for Peek & Cloppenburg Austria & CEE from April 2018 to December 2022.

The news of Pörtner's departure comes roughly six months after the departure of wholesale head, David Meyer, was announced. As general manager business-to-business, he was responsible for national and international sales activities in this segment. So far, Tom Tailor does not appear to have found a successor for Meyer. Until a new structure is implemented, the B2B sales teams will report directly to Lenz.

Meyer's departure follows a series of changes within the company. At the beginning of December, Christopher Hallberg, who was previously responsible for controlling accounting, taxes, treasury, and data and analytics, was promoted to chief financial officer. He took over from Christian Werner, whose departure was announced in July of last year. This announcement also stated that the previous brand director men, Reinhard Müller, would take over all product areas as director brand. Additionally, Lars Globisch joined the company as director IT, Kathrin Weller was appointed head of marketing, and Patrick Mittmann was appointed head of people in HR.

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

Paul Pörtner

Tom Tailor