Gaastra introduces new CEO

By

Olivier Guyot

Published
Jul 1, 2015

Gaastra has a new captain. The Dutch sailing/lifestyle brand is in the hands of Oliver Frielingsdorf. He has succeeded Marc van der Vaal, who left the company in 2014. 

The executive has extensive experience in the fashion industry. He was the managing director Europe at Triumph and worked at Nautica and Tommy Hilfiger at the beginning of the 2000s. Most recently he was the general manager of Global Apparel Network.

Frielingsdorf, a veritable reorganisations specialist, discreetly took on the position a few months ago. An arrival that took place at the time of some big changes at the McGregor Fashion group.

The structure thus saw the departure of Marc Van der Wal, managing director of Gaastra since 2013. At McGregor, Merlijn Lammersen, who arrived at the beginning of the year from the NN group, a specialist in marketing strategies, was named marketing director of the group. And there are more changes to come in the group, with Gaastra notably looking for a new export director.

Founded in 1993, the group is present in some 3,000 multibrand stores around the world and has approximately 120 fully-owned stores with its McGregor, Gastra and Adam menswear brands. It reports around 260 million euros in revenue.