OTB entrusts North American operations to Laura Dubin-Wander

By

Dominique Muret

Published
Sep 18, 2021

OTB has confirmed its interest in the American market, where it has just poached Laura Dubin-Wander from Coach. The executive has been named as CEO of Only The Brave's designer brands in North America, according to a release from the Italian fashion group owned by Renzo Rosso. On this market, she will oversee the operations of Maison Margiela, Marni and Jil Sander, as well as Staff International, which holds the exclusive licenses for Dquared2 and Just Cavalli, among other brands. She succeeds Monica Voltolina, who has been responsible for OTB's luxury houses in the U.S. for 12 years. 
 

Dubin-Wander, who will be based in New York, has more than 25 years of experience in the fashion sector. Over the last two years, she was responsible for the Coach brand on the American market, where she developed a customer-centric strategy as well as a new omnichannel approach. Before joining Coach, she worked for two of LVMH's major French luxury houses. 
 
From 2012 to 2015, she was vice president for U.S. wholesale at Christian Dior. Then, from 2016 to 2018, she was president of Givenchy in New York. Prior to this, she notably worked at Victoria's Secret Direct as director of merchandising, as well as at the Dana Buchman brand, which belonged to the Liz Claiborne group at the time, before it became Kate Spade & Company. She also served as president of the Martin + Osa label at American Eagle Outfitters, before joining LVMH. 

According to OTB CEO Ubaldo Minelli, her appointment reflects "the strategic relevance of the United States and the importance of investing in the best talents to lead our growth in the region" in the coming years. Indeed, the Italian group has been doubling down on its investments in the North American market, where it plans to open six new points of sale over the next few months and where it also holds a minority stake in California-based brand Amiri. 

North America currently accounts for 10% of OTB's total revenues. By the end of the year, the company will have a total of 27 stores in the U.S., including 16 Diesel locations, six Marni boutiques and five Maison Margiela stores.