Esprit

Esprit offers consumers clothing, footwear, sporting goods, accessories, watches, jewelry, perfumes, cosmetics, toys, children’s products, and household goods, including home textiles, linen, furniture, wallpaper, and lighting. The brand-name ‘edc’ which gained independence during 2007 and the cosmetics brand, Red Earth, fall into this group. The company’s European head office is situated in Ratingen, Germany and its Asian headquarters is located in Hong Kong.

The company was established in San Francisco during 1968, under the name ‘Plain Jane Dress.' During 1972, it registered a US corporation, ‘Esprit de Corp, branch’ and its Hong Kong office was opened as the Far Eastern branch of the group. During 1976, it opened its EU office in Germany.

The company’s 1978 turnover was more than $100m. By 2007, the group had opened more than 500 retail stores and had control over 2000 franchises. During 2011, Esprit Holdings had a staff complement in excess of 14000. The market value of the corporation was almost $6.2bn, and sales were in excess of $4.3bn.