PacSun Division President Resigns
josh hunter
- December 09 2008
- 594 views
- 7 comments
Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. announced today that Thomas M. Kennedy, Division President of PacSun, has resigned. Kennedy joined the company in May 2004 as Division President, and was responsible for all merchandising, design, and marketing for PacSun. Prior to his stint with PacSun, Kennedy was the Vice Predisdent of Global Lifestyle Apparel at Nike for three years, and prior to that he spent eight years at The Gap.
According to Forbes, Kennedy’s total compensation was $1,532,358.
Here’s the Press Release:
Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc. (Nasdaq:PSUN), announced today that Thomas M. Kennedy, Division President of PacSun, has resigned his position with the Company to pursue other interests. Mr. Kennedy’s responsibilities are expected to be reassigned to members of the Company’s existing management team.
“We very much appreciate Tom’s contributions to the business during his tenure, and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” commented Sally Frame Kasaks, the Company’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
About Pacific Sunwear of California, Inc.
Pacific Sunwear is a leading lifestyle specialty retailer rooted in the youth culture and fashion vibe of Southern California. The Company sells casual apparel with a limited selection of accessories and footwear designed to meet the needs of teens and young adults. As of November 29, 2008, the Company operated 816 PacSun stores and 126 PacSun Outlet stores for a total of 942 stores in 50 states and Puerto Rico.
PacSun’s website address is www.pacsun.com.
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December 9th, 2008 at 9:41 pm
It’s about time…
December 9th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
its a big salary but its a job with big headaches
December 10th, 2008 at 8:53 am
So this guy makes 700K/year and has some decent stock grants/options which are likely worthless or underwater from a strike price standpoint. Clearly they are cutting wood from the top line management and there will likely be more to come.
Glad to see this kind of tightening from these guys. Like them or not they have built an amazing business despite the hate from “” Core/Specialty retail. The good news is (for core folks) is that PSUN is not core and carries fairly lame brands. BUT- remember, they are catering to folks who would have no clue about a core brand much less a core shop. In other words PSUN is servicing a different buyer demo than say a Sunrise surf shop or Surfside.
I do wonder how much they are a victim of the upper end management round table’s seemingly vanilla backgrounds?? It appears that many of these folks come from companies like The Gap or other general purpose retail that has little insight into real surf/skate brands (as evidence by the brands they carry)
Everyone in the industry has heard “Pac Sun Approved” in terms of what they will accept or what will work in the stores. HMM? Did sales work because of those merchandising schemes or in spite of it.
Anyway, I guess my point is that maybe the decisions of brand selection and subsequent merchandizing of the PacSun messaging/branding has finally caught up with them. This coupled with a massive dent in consumer spending seems to be really a “Perfect Storm” of shit happening with these guys.
While we’re on the subject of Core- How the hell did Dick Baker work his way into this space and get cred as some who knows their way around core brands. HE DOESN’T!!! I will say he is a VERY smart fella who has done some great shit, I just want to point out that he is not indemic to the surf/skate industry and came from doing shit like Espirit, Lacoste, and Hillfiger. Again, he did great things with these brands but the industry who seems very protective of people who are deemed credible (Like Danny Kwok or Michael Thomson) yet people prop this guy up like his is some oracle of wisdom in this space and really has no base of operations. Just a point to say a word of caution that if the industry is taking cues from former Benetton/Lacoste folks then we are fucked and we deserve what we get.
Not saying you have to surf the wedge or do a backside air to have industry cred (as far as I know Duke doesn’t surf) but you have to earn your stripes in the space, and I just wonder how he got a pass from a fairly insider based community.
OK- So this turned out to be a rant rather than a pointed response to the PSUN stuff but am now on my 3rd cup of coffee and the words just started coming.
December 10th, 2008 at 9:37 am
Pistol Pete-
I have followed some of your posts and you appear to be right on every time. You did ramble a bit but I did chuckle a bit at the Dick Baker comment
Glad to see someone is finally calling out the Dick Baker deal. I agree- Great guy with a ton of cred in retail markets, but let’s face it his only dealings in Surf was the spin on OP. What’s next for him a new deal with Stubbies?
This reminds of those guys from Trovata who claimed to be surf guys from Newport Beach that no one had ever heard of when in reality they were high end designers from Rhode Island School of Design.
Good points PP. Keep it up!!! ease up on the coffee though.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:22 am
When you are over seeing as many retail locatins as they do they have to make sure that the brands can deliever at the volume they require. Not many brands have that capablity. This is why it is what it is. It’s like if you are a buyer at major grocery store chain and you want apple sauce, Ya sure suzy q’s organic apples sauce is the bomb, but she makes it out of her kitchen on Sundays and you need 100000 units sent to you every quarter, sorry but it ain’t gona happen.
December 10th, 2008 at 7:46 pm
Yeah, I always wondered about Dick Baker’s deal. He stands up at the SIMA stuff like St. Thomas and preaches from the pulpit about how retail needs to do this or that. SIMA just lost a notch in my book. Funny to hear that he is just a grinder from mid tier fashion.
Perhaps Pete didn’t mean to make the point but what I see is that these big chain retail guys miss the target though I guess the counterpoint would be Hollister.
Not sure about HMMM’s comments though- Any small brand has tons of options when the big orders hit. That’s why there are factoring companies out there. Shit- the Screen companies will finance those deals in many cases as it behooves them to get those done.
Oh well, the real core dudes don’t wear surf brands anyway- They were levis and Flannels. The Hawaiians wear surf garb cause they get the shit for free.
December 10th, 2008 at 10:38 pm
The business actually started to take a turn for the worse in 2005. It was only a matter of time until Pacific Sunwear turned into Pacific Streetwear. You can’t claim your a surf retailer from southern CA and promote the surfing industry (like sponsoring the USA surf team or paying for the surf contest live web cam) if you don’t have the brands and right assortment in your store to back it up! Pacstreet is very similar to hollister in which they try to deceive the consumer.
Not to mention most of the management came from Gap/Old Navy and Abercrombie. I mean Gapercrombie. It might have helped pacstreet to have more than 3 people in the entire corp building actually in the water. I take that back, I hope that never happens. I’m glad I got out when I did. I can only imagine what a black hole looks like on the inside. It’s quite entertaining watching from the other side of the fence though.