Esprit

Esprit is an international youthful lifestyle brand, created by Doug and Susie Tompkins in 1968. Initially, their small business offered limited smart and sporty clothing. But in the beginning of the 70s, due to the financial support provided by Michael Ying, their business was brought to the next level as Esprit Far West Group was established. A few years later, the corporation rebranded itself as Esprit de Corps.

The unique Esprit logo was designed by John Casado in 1979. This was during a time when Esprit, without a heavy marketing campaign, managed to generate sufficient income, using a mail catalogue with ‘real people’ as models. The Esprit Kids line started in 1981 and included premium clothes for a younger audience.

With its distinctive logo, apparel and aesthetic the brand used the ‘store within store’ marketing concept, offering Esprit clothing through custom-styled sections of larger department stores. Later, the company opened its own stores and boutiques. Esprit’s perfect strategic decisions and successful marketing campaigns lead to an expansion in Singapore and Europe in the middle 1980s.

In 2001 Esprit includes perfumes into its product portfolio. They are widely successful and created by leading perfumers such as Emilie (Bevierre) Coppermann, Guillaume Flavigny, Olivier Pescheux, Bernard Ellena, Benoist Lapouza, Jean-Christophe Herault, Veronique Nyberg, Philippe Bousseton, Beatrice Piquet, Domitille Bertier, Juliette Karagueuzoglou, Alienor Massenet, Evelyne Boulanger, Christophe Raynaud, Nicolas Beaulieu, Nathalie Lorson, Christiane Plos and Marie Salamagne.