Nine West Footwear reorganizes; CEO out

New York -- Sycamore Partners announced that it has reorganized its Nine West Footwear Group into four separate businesses, each with its own leadership team. The top leadership has changed as well, as the company announced Nine West Footwear Group CEO Kathy Nedorostek has stepped down. She will be replaced in the interim by Andrew Hede, a turnaround specialist and managing director with Alvarez & Marsal in New York.



The operating division of Nine West Holdings will now be organized as: Nine West (which includes the Nine West, Bandolino, Enzo Angiolini and Circa Joan & David brands, and the Handbags division), Easy Spirit, NW Jewelry Group and Anne Klein.



Sycamore also announced that Kohl’s Corp. senior executive VP for product development Peggy Eskenasi has joined Sycamore to serve as executive chairman of Easy Spirit, NW Jewelry Group and Anne Klein. She will also advise Sycamore on brand development across its growing portfolio of retail and consumer investments.



"We are pleased to welcome Peggy and look forward to working closely with her as we continue to focus on acquiring and nurturing leading brands in the consumer and retail sector," said Stefan Kaluzny, a managing director at Sycamore Partners.



Eric Dauwalter, president of Easy Spirit, and Fran Lukas, president of NW Jewelry, will continue to lead their respective businesses in the new structure. Eskenasi will lead the recruitment and development of a management team to lead the newly formed Anne Klein business unit.



Sycamore Partners’ investment portfolio also includes Aeropostale, Coldwater Creek, Hot Topic, Jones New York, the Kasper Group, Kurt Geiger, MGF Sourcing, Pathlight Capital, Stuart Weitzman and Talbots.