Textiles
Lenzing
The supervisory board of wood-based fiber producer Lenzing has extended the standing management board mandate of chief pulp and chief technology officer Christian Skilich, running until next May, by three additional years (aka until May 31, 2029).
Chief financial officer Nico Reiner will not extend his management board mandate, set to expire on Dec. 31, 2025. Mathias Breuer will become the new CFO on Jan. 1, 2026. Breuer has been part of the management team since 2023, instrumental in developing and implementing a company-wide performance program.
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Karl Mayer
German textile machinery firm Karl Mayer has named Lutz Wolf as its sole CEO. He will assume overall responsibility for the internationally active group of companies, headquartered in Obertshausen, Germany. Most recently, Wolf spent eight years on the Neuenhauser Group’s executive board, including roughly four years as CEO. Here, Lutz was responsible for the textile machinery and automation segments as well as the entire metal processing division of the family-owned, internationally active group of companies in the field of mechanical engineering and metal processing.
Unspun
B Corp-certified technology company Unspun announced the appointment of Chris Blakeslee as its first independent board member. Blakeslee most recently served as president and CEO of the Gap-owned lifestyle brand, Athleta, and as advisor to the company until later this fall. He brings nearly 15 years of apparel industry leadership, with previous roles including president of Alo Yoga and senior positions across operations, supply chain, sales and sourcing sectors at wholesale distributor Alphabroder.
Blakeslee joins board members, Unspun’s Beth Esponnette, Walden Lam and Kevin Martin as well as Milo Werner of DCVC, Shuo Yang of Lowercarbon Capital and Duncan Turner of SOSV and Hax.
Brands
On Holding
Swiss sneaker brand On Holding’s chief operating officer, Sam Wenger, will step down at the end of the year after eight years in the role. Current chief innovation officer Scott Maguire will assume an expanded role of chief innovation and operations officer at the top of 2026, with Wenger remaining on until the end of its first quarter.
Wax London
Contemporary British menswear label Wax London has named Patrick Duggan, former creative director at Debenhams, as its new brand director. Duggan previously worked with Wax London, on a freelance basis, as a brand and creative consultant in 2020.
Retail
Debenhams
Debenhams Group, the British retail conglomerate formerly known as Boohoo Group, saw creative director Patrick Duggan step down after more than five years in the role, the executive shared on social media. Duggan began as the brand’s creative manager for Coast and Karen Millen in 2020. A year later, he became senior creative manager for Debenhams, ultimately appointed as creative director in 2024. His replacement remains unclear.
Logistics
Port of Long Beach
After more than eight years at the helm, Port of Long Beach announced that CEO Mario Cordero will retire at the end of 2025. In 2011, then-President Barack Obama appointed Cordero to serve on the Federal Maritime Commission. He served as FMC chairman from 2013 through 2017—until the first Trump administration—returning to Long Beach as the port’s new CEO, at the request of the board of harbor commissioners, that year instead. Now, the board of harbor commissioners is still considering its options for its next CEO, predicting that the process will take a few months.
Trade
Fair Labor Association
The Fair Labor Association (FLA) announced that Chris Lu—former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for Management and Reform—will chair the FLA board of directors. Effective Nov. 1, Lu will lead the board as it works to develop labor rights policies that hold companies accountable to their commitments as well as support innovation that improves workers’ lives around the world. Lu will succeed Michael Posner, who has served as FLA board chair since 2017.
Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI)
Multistakeholder human rights and due diligence organization ETI has appointed Martine Parry, senior media lead at the Fairtrade Foundation, as a non-executive director to its board. Parry’s expertise spans sustainability, supply chains and international development as well as both consumer and business communications.
