Pacific Sunwear SVP of women's merchandising and design resigns

Pacific Sunwear’s SVP of women’s merchandising and design Christine Lee has resigned. Filling the role on an interim basis will be Brieane Breuer, who joined PacSun in 2007 and is the company's current VP of women's design.



Breuer received her master's degree in fashion design and styling from Istituto Marangoni and during the past 13 years has held various merchandising and design roles at high-end fashion brands such as Valentino, as well as at Abercrombie & Fitch.



The company stopped short of saying why Lee resigned, but it did comment on its second-quarter guidance following challenges in its women’s business. The company said that it expects its non-GAAP loss from continuing operations per diluted share for the second quarter of fiscal 2014 to be generally in line with analysts' consensus estimates of $0.03, which compares favorably to the company's previously issued non-GAAP guidance of $0.08 to $0.02.



"Sales trends across the business have generally improved in both June and July with men's again on track to achieve a positive comp for the second quarter," said Gary H. Schoenfeld, president and CEO of Pacific Sunwear. "Based on the strength of our brand assortment, along with our leadership position with the men's jogger for back-to-school, we expect men's to continue its positive momentum as we look ahead to the third quarter."



With respect to its women's business, the company is focused on four key areas: increasing the penetration of brands, leveraging the vision of its design team even more by leading with new trends, strengthening its non-apparel business and driving growth online.



"I appreciate all of the efforts Christine has put forth over the past four years to help re-position the PacSun business," added Schoenfeld. "I am eager to work even more closely with Brie and the rest of our women's team to successfully tackle our key initiatives. I am excited by several recent creative concepts coming from our design team and optimistic that the women's business can soon get back to positive comps as well."



As of July 31, the company operates 618 stores in all 50 states and Puerto Rico.