Esprit
In 1968, Tompkins and his wife, Susie, and her friend Jane Tise began selling girls' dresses out of the back of a VW bus; in 1971, they incorporated the booming business under the name "Plain Jane" which later became ESPRIT. By 1978, sales topped $100 million a year, and the company had formed partnerships in Germany and Hong Kong. Tompkins titled himself "image director", overseeing all aspects of the company's image, from store design to catalog layout, while his wife served as design director. Emerging as one of the hottest brands of the era, the company grew into a transnational company operating in 60 countries. At the same time, the company developed a reputation as a good place to work. In 1989, the Japanese art publisher Robundo published “Esprit, the Comprehensive Design Principle," which documented the all-encompassing design principles that Tompkins had created for the brand.
Growing increasingly concerned about the ecological impacts of the fashion industry, Tompkins decided to leave the business world in the late 1980s. In 1989, he sold his share of the American company back to Susie, from whom he had separated, putting most of his profits into land conservation. Subsequently, in 1989 and 1994, he sold his interests in the other Esprit entities around the world.
Read more about this topic: Douglas Tompkins
Famous quotes containing the word esprit:
“If the heart has its reasons, perhaps the body
Has its own lumbering sort of carnal spirit,
Felt in the tingling bruises of collision,
And known to captains as esprit de corps.”
—Anthony Hecht (b. 1923)