Ann, CEO, has a career in the garment industry spanning 35 years. She began as Vice President of Production and Design for MARISA CHRISTINA, then a better sweater company, and participated in the company’s sale to Colgate Palmolive and subsequent leveraged buyback by a private equity firm. She was owner of DECIDELY DIFFERENT, INC., a better dress company produced domestically; Director of Knitwear Development and Production for CALVIN KLEIN; Vice President of Production for AVIREX; Director of Knitwear Development and Production for A LINE, ANNE KLEIN; Director of Sweaters, Knitwear and Active Wear Production for EXPRESS; Senior Technical Designer for Tse Cashmere; and, Head of Technical Design and Development for RMC INC, producing woven product exclusively for ANTHROPOLGIE. Ann has been a consultant in the garment industry specializing in setting up off shore offices in Hong Kong and supervising introductions into off shore production in China, Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Korea, Turkey and Italy. Ann has a writing background as a ghost writer, was editor of NEW YORK BUSINESS SPEAKS magazine and MODEL’S WORLD magazine, The Mystery Writers of America Newsletter, has a published novel, REEL ENDINGS, co-written with William Weatherby and is a member of The New York Television Academy of Arts and Sciences. Ann is a graduate of Lawrence University with a BA degree, is single, has four nieces, a grand-niece, Isabel and two grand-nephews, Nathan and Max.
Francoise, COO, is a highly motivated, goal oriented merchandising professional proficient in pricing, budgeting, marketing strategies, and operations. Her career began at ANNE KLEIN where she became the Vice President of Merchandising responsible for an annual wholesale volume of $130 million dollars. As Vice President of Merchandising and Design at TSE Cashmere, she managed a multidivisional company (a vertical operation in partnership with the mainland Chinese Government), overseeing a staff of 11. As Director of Production and Operations for ECCOCI (a division of the Carlisle Group), Francoise managed a staff of 38. A graduate of Ecole Superieure de Commerce, Switzerland, Francoise holds a second BS degree from The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York (F.I.T.). Francoise is married and has two children, Eloise and Adrien.
