After just six quarters at the helm, Lands’ End CEO, Federica Marchionni, has stepped down
She came to the Midwestern brand after positions with Ferrari and Dolce & Gabanna. Her hiring was part of an effort to make the casual brand more fashionable with younger consumers.
Lands’ End stock has fallen 33 percent in the last year, and Marchionni’s tenure had been marked by a handful of missteps.
One such misstep happened in March when the brand was forced to apologize for featuring an interview that Marchionni conducted with the pro-choice advocate and political activist Gloria Steinem. Anti-abortion groups protested brand managers’ decisions to publish the article. Pro-choice advocates lambasted their taking it down.
The Lands’ End board of directors thanked Marchionni for her work on the brand’s behalf.
Chairwoman Josephine Linden said that the ousted exec was:
Leaving Lands' End well positioned to continue its evolution and capture the growth opportunities that exist for our iconic brand in this dynamic retail environment.
Marchionni responded in a statement:
I am honored to have led this extraordinary company and proud to have succeeded in providing a vision to expand its positioning in the industry with a multi-dimensional strategy. However, the Board of Directors and I have agreed it is time for others to bring Lands' End into the future. I thank everyone who supported me in this journey and wish Lands' End the very best.
The Wall Street Journal painted a much more acrimonious picture, reporting that Marchionni was “ pushed out.”
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Another point of contention reportedly stemmed from Marchionni’s decision to spend only a week per month at the company’s Dodgeville, Wisconsin, headquarters. The bulk of her time was spent working from an office in New York City.
The WSJ reports that Marchionni’s departure is being treated as “termination without cause,” which entitles her to a nearly $2 million exit package.
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