Dive Brief:
- Bloomingdale’s has named David Thielebeule men’s fashion director, according to an Tuesday email sent to sister publication Fashion Dive. His role is effective immediately.
- Prior to joining Bloomingdale’s, Thielebeule spent more than 15 years working as a fashion editor, per the release. He was most recently founding editor-in-chief of Grazia USA, and prior to that, he spent nearly eight years as style director for the Wall Street Journal. He was also sittings assistant at GQ, per his LinkedIn page. He began his career as an assistant buyer at Saks Fifth Avenue.
- Thielebeule replaces Justin Berkowitz, the former Details fashion editor who spent more than eight years as men’s fashion director at Bloomingdale’s before exiting the role in May.
Dive Insight:
Theilebeule’s background will likely be a key driver in moving the Bloomingdale’s narrative forward. Creating a strong identity may prove especially important for the stores as challenges in the luxury retailer and e-commerce space reverberate across the high-end sector.
“His career has been focused on editorial content creation and trend forecasting at leading publications and brands — crafting compelling visual narratives across all platforms,” a spokesperson told sister publication Fashion Dive in an email.
The hire comes as Bloomingdale’s parent company Macy’s looks to shift its overall retail strategy and focus more on luxury.
In February, Macy’s said it planned to open 15 new Bloomingdale’s locations over the next three years, even as it said it would close 150 underperforming Macy’s stores during the same time period.
That announcement came weeks after former Bloomingdale’s CEO Tony Spring took over the Macy’s CEO spot from Jeff Gennette, who retired after 40 years with the company. Olivier Bron, who previously served as chief operating officer and director of strategy at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, replaced Spring as CEO of Bloomingdale's.
In May, Macy’s reported a 0.3% year-over-year increase in Bloomingdale’s comps for Q1 following a 1.6% dip in comps the previous quarter. By contrast, comps at the Macy’s banner fell 0.4% in Q1, versus a 4.7% dip in comps the previous quarter.
The luxury department store space is shifting, however, as mergers and off-price retail impact the category.
Competitor Nordstrom saw a 5.1% increase in Q1 year-over-year sales. Although full-line Nordstrom net sales were up 0.6%, off-price Rack sales rose 13.9% for the period.
Meanwhile, privately owned HBC last week announced a definitive agreement to acquire Neiman Marcus Group for $2.65 billion. Following completion of the deal, HBC plans to establish Saks Global, joining its currently owned Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Off 5th banners to the newly acquired Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman brands. Each store will continue operations under their respective banners.
