Much has been made of Apple’s snatching up fashion executives, whether the Burberry chief executive Angela Ahrendts or the former Saint Laurent chief executive Paul Deneve. Given the current love affair between the technology and fashion industries, it’s hard not to wonder why fashion never figured out that it might want to give the Silicon Valley behemoth a dose of its own medicine.
Now someone has: Pascal Cagni, Apple’s former vice president for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa, who worked at the company for 12 years and resigned in 2012, has been consulting for the Internet fashion retailer Net-a-Porter.
WWD has even reported that Mr. Cagni may become chief executive of Net-a-Porter, which has been without someone in the top job since Mark Sebba resigned in July. No one at the online retailer, which is owned by Richemont, was available to comment.
Whether or not Mr. Cagni takes the top job, the fact that the current of hiring between the technology and the luxury industries is flowing in both directions, albeit more slowly in one direction than the other, is noteworthy.
Granted, it may be hard for luxury or fashion companies to compete with Apple’s stock price, which could create a meaningful remuneration gap for executives working at a level that usually includes equity. But my guess is that this is the beginning of increased mobility between the two sectors.