Brand Growth Inspiration offers guidance on brand growth and performance to industry leaders. The platform is curated and maintained by the Brand Expert Network, a remotely connected group of independent senior brand and retail experts. Collectively, we have worked with more than 50 lifestyle brands and retailers around the globe.

GREG KLINGAMAN

Greg is a D2C retail and consumer sector expert who has spent over 20 years leading omni-channel, experiential marketing, and operational transformations for major brands including Johnnie Walker, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, and The Home Depot.

Find his post here or mail us, that we connect you.

STEFAN WENZEL

With more than 20 years in Digital Commerce for leading players, Stefan Wenzel has held positions as managing director for companies such as Ebay, brand4friends, Otto and Tom Tailor Digital, led digital transformation & acceleration across various business models and growth states, including nine years of work and life abroad. Read his work here and or mail us, that we connect you.

TORBEN VALSTED

Torben Valsted is an international ‘Business Imagineer’ focused on building growth-unleashing relationships in symbiosis between commercial understanding and consumer-centric insights. Torben has been a transformational leader and growth architect for Nike, Nestlé and Carlsberg.

Read more from his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

RUDOLF BARTELS

Rudolf Bartels has cultivated a passion for efficient retail operations throughout his entire retail management life. Keeping stores simple, smooth, cost efficient and profitable was almost like a religion to him. Today, when coaching retailers, he feels with store managers, but also sees an opportunity to re-invent retail. Read his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

AGUSTIN CAPRILE

Agustin Caprile is an expert in buying and sourcing who has worked for top European fashion retail brands for 15+ years and has extensive global experience in the textile production industry. He is passionate about elevating the apparel business to higher levels of quality and consumer respect.

Read his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

YOON WAI LEONG

Wai Leong Yoon is a seasoned consumer goods and brand expert for China and South East Asia. Looking back on a rich career as manager and consultant, he now focusses on coaching selected consumer goods companies to maintain their growth in post Covid-19 times. Read his articles here or mail us, that we connect you.

VALERIE DICHTL

Valerie Dichtl has been fashion buyer at Amazon, organising the marketplace and online wholesale for 9 years. Combining her experience from brand site, online retail and consulting in the fashion industry, she supports brands in defining and implementing their online sales strategy. Read your can read more from her here or mail us, that we connect you.

ALES KERNJAK

Ales has worked  25+ years with brands like Aesop, PUMA and Timberland in brand store creation. In his work he develops 360° brand experience moments, authentic storytelling and consumer engagements. Read more from his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

JOHN ENSMINGER

With 25+ years in the sports and fashion industry across the United States, Europe and Asia, John Ensminger has worked with leading brands including Nike, The North Face, K2 Sports and Carhartt to develop breakthrough, actionable strategies that strengthen their brand position and drive growth and profitability. Read more from his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

NORBERT STEINKE

Norbert Steinke is a true retail addict. Over his career he has touched on a wide range of product categories, worked for family businesses as well as for investors, from the shop floor all the way to executive management. Today Norbert is a consultant and advisor to investors and CEOs in the retail industry. Read more from his work here or mail us, that we connect you.

ROOSMARIJN DE ROOIJ

Roosmarijn de Rooij is a strategy consultant in the fashion & lifestyle industry and focusses on process optimisation. She started off her career in finance and then worked in leading positions at a department store for several years before starting her own business. She is very passionate about restructuring brands and retailers to get them ready for the future. Read her posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

HAGEN SEIDEL

Hagen Seidel is chief correspondent at TextilWirtschaft, the leading German trade publication for the fashion industry. In addition to his work at TextilWirtschaft, Hagen Seidel is the author of business books, for instance about the decline of Karstadt-Quelle (‘Arcandors Absturz’) or about the sensational founding years of Zalando (‘Schrei vor Glück’). Read his posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

CHRISTIAN STOLL

With 25+ years in the sports & fashion industry, Christian Stoll is an international expert in wholesale and retail and in the implementation of exciting brands for premium consumers. Having seen many game changes in his career, he suspects there lies a chance in every crisis.

Read Christian’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

MAXIMILIAN GELLERT (Curator)

Maximilian Gellert is passionate about transforming digital technologies into pragmatic every-day solutions for retailers. Combining consulting experience with industry functions in premium apparel and online grocery, he supports retailers and etailers in their digital challenges and last mile innovation.

Read more of Max’ inisghts here or mail us, that we connect you.

ALEXANDER GEDAT

Alexander Gedat has successfully grown brands for over two decades, until recently as the CEO of Marc O‘Polo. He currently builds on his extensive expertise in business strategy, sustainable growth and leadership to coach fashion brands in their brand development.

Read his posts here or mail us that we connect you.

GAVIN BROWN

Gavin grew up far from anywhere, longing to own the stuff featured at the back of magazines like MAD, SHOOT! and NME. Today, he channels his lost childhood and 20+ years in brand and licensing management into helping European companies appeal to consumers’ urge to own. Read his posts here or mail us that we connect you.
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THOMAS SCHWARTZ-DREYFUS

Thomas specializes in e-commerce. After a tenure at Amazon Fashion he launched his own company, love the brands, to help brands build stronger independent e-commerce businesses while keeping the connection with their customers alive and strong.

Read Thomas’ articles here, or mail us, that we connect you.

ARVIND SINGHAL

Arvind is Chairman and Managing Director of  Technopak, one of India’s leading management consulting firms advising across a wide range of sectors, including retail, fashion, textiles and apparel or education. He has previously written columns for the Business Standard and the Economic Times.

Read more from his rich market insight here, or mail us, that we connect you.

MAURITZ SCHILD

Mauritz is a recent graduate of Grenoble Ecole de Management in France with a passion for all things digital. During his studies, he specialized in analytics in digital markets. He has worked at an e-commerce start-up in Kuala Lumpur and a multi-brand US corporation in Switzerland.

Read Mauritz’ posts here. If you want to contact him, or mail us, that we connect you.

KEN GUNN

Ken Gunn is Managing Director at FSP and looks back on 30+ years of experience in retail property and uses his deep retail centers to help clients realise the true potential of their investments. He core activity lays in Designer Outlet Centres. Read from his experience here or mail us, that we connect you.

SILKE LINSENMAIER

Silke is an expert on women as a target group, innovative retail concepts, emotional store-selling and time-management across all sales channels. Silke has 25 years of professional experience in the fashion industry, experience in the development of brands, and in restructuring. Read Silke’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

ISABELLA LADINES

Isabella is a retail and brand product management professional in the fashion industry, with a passion for underwear, accessory and lifestyle businesses. After 20+ years in leading positions in brand and retail companies, she now consults and coaches companies on how to truly fulfill their female customers’ expectations. Read Isabella’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

CHRISTOPH MAUSE

Christoph Mause likes to call himself a digital immigrant, even though he started his own digital business in the 1980s, pre-internet. He successfully established one of the leading European digital agencies ecx.io, which he sold to IBM in 2016. He’s one of the digital weirdos and is currently focussed on the effects of digitalisation on our society. Read Christoph’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

URBAN PLATTES

Urban is a passionate retail real estate professional with broad executive management experience in retail real estate. Urban’s specialty is project development and equity structuring. His focus is on all aspects of the leasing portfolio management of brick & mortar retail.

Read his posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

CATE TROTTER

Cate is Founder and Head of Trends at Insider Trends, a leading London-based retail futures agency helping global brands create world-leading and profitable retail spaces. She has helped brands such as Chanel, Galeries Lafayette, Marks & Spencer, Samsung, House of Fraser, Lego or EE create world-leading retail ecosystems. Read her posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

JÜRGEN MÜLLER

Jürgen is the founder and CEO of Suits. Executive Search, a recruitment consultancy for top management and executive positions in lifestyle industries. His expertise spans design and product management, procurement, supply chain management, marketing communication and distribution in retail, wholesale and e-commerce. Read his posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

ANDREAS KLOTZ

Andreas Klotz is an experienced CFO with a proven track record in change management as well as performance improvement. He has significant experience in working with large, internationally well-known brands – public, privately owned and PE backed.

Read Andreas’ posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

CHRISTOPH BERENDES (Curator)

Christoph is a consultant, focusing on strategy development and process optimisation for fashion brands and retailers. He has more than 15 years experience as a consultant, line manager in the sports wear industry, and as an e-commerce entrepreneur. He currently helps digital distribution agency onQuality grow. Read Christoph’s contributions here or connect with him on LinkedIn.

HEIKE BLANK (Founding Curator)

Heike has held executive positions for international multibrand & multichannel organisations for 10+ years. With a focus on brand retail and retail partnering, Heike has worked in 25+ countries and now uses this vast experience to support brands in successfully developing and bringing to life their international distribution strategies. Read Heike’s contributions here or mail us, that we connect you.

ISABELL GUIDASTRI (Founding Curator)

Isabell is a consultant with 20+ years of experience in international fashion and beauty brands. She has worked with global powerhouses in branding and retail and her focus is on local and global distribution strategies. Multilingual with an international mind-set, Isabell commutes between Germany and Italy, enjoying the best of both countries. Read Isabell’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

ALEXANDER VON KEYSERLINGK (Founding Curator)

Alexander’s expertise is based on 25+ years of operational retail management and consulting for fashion & lifestyle brands. His specialty is the translation of great brands into unique store concepts. He’s a keynote speaker, founder and editor of the Slowretail Blog, and occasional guest lecturer at the Academy of Fashion and Design in Germany. Read Alexander’s posts here or mail us, that we connect you.

GUIDO SCHILD (Curator)

Guido is a brand & retail manager with 25+ years of experience. He has assisted entrepreneurs and managers across Europe, Asia and the Middle East in successfully growing their brand distribution. He is currently working on his book on global best practices for brand growth management and continues to coach brands in their strategic growth. Read Guido’s posts here, or mail us, that we connect you.

 

If you like contributing your own brand growth inspiration to this blog, we would love to hear about it. Mail us your idea and we look forward to discussing your ideas.

Your Brand Growth Inspiration Team