Christopher Kittle, Most Recently at Cole Haan, Heads up Men's Footwear;
Michelle Frantz, Founder of Hand Maid by Michelle Frantz, Serves as
Accessory Designer; Chris Torres, Most Recently at Reebok, is Athletic
Footwear Designer
NEW YORK, Sept. 13 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Payless ShoeSource
announced today that it has hired three new designers to join the
retailer's New York Design Studio team including Christopher Kittle as
men's footwear design director, Michelle Frantz, accessory designer, and
Chris Torres, athletic footwear designer, rounding out the company's
recently formed Payless design team, which is responsible for developing
original product designs supporting the retailer's seasonal collection of
on-trend branded products.
The new designers will report to Robert Mingione, head of the Payless
design team, and join Bernard Figueroa, head of women's footwear, and
Michael Rugai, children's footwear designer.
"We are thrilled to have secured such amazing talent to join our New
York design team, and we look forward to their valuable contribution to our
mission to democratize fashion and design in the footwear and accessory
category," said Matt Rubel, chief executive officer and president, Payless
ShoeSource.
"Chris has significant experience, having been at Cole Haan for the
past nine years with tremendous accomplishments in the dress, casual and
sport categories for that brand; Michelle will bring her experience and
entrepreneurial spirit, having founded her own private label accessory
company, as well as styled the stars; and Chris, who comes to us from
Reebok will cover our athletic footwear focusing on the Airwalk and
Champion brands. We are delighted with the design talent Robert has
attracted to help Payless bring forward the latest ideas in footwear and
accessories to shoppers at a great price."
Most recently, Kittle served as men's footwear designer for Cole Haan
since 1998. From 1997 to 1998, he was with Reebok International Ltd., as
creative director for footwear design for the children's and classic
categories. Prior, from 1996 to 1997, he was vice president of footwear
design for Ralph Lauren Footwear and from 1994 to 1996 he served in the
same role for Rockport Footwear. From 1987 to 1994, Kittle was with Reebok
in a range of design roles, including design group leader, design director
and senior designer. He started his footwear design career in the UK
working with such companies as Clarks Ltd., and K Shoes Ltd. Kittle holds
an honors diploma in footwear design from De Montfort University in
England.
From 1998 to 2005, Frantz served as founder and chief executive officer
of Hand Maid by Michelle Frantz, which was acquired by Line Up Group, Inc.
in April 2005. After the acquisition, Frantz served as creative director
and head designer for the newly acquired business. Prior to founding her
own business, she served as stylist and creative assistant at Maryam
Malkapour, where she assisted to style celebrities such as Sheryl Crow and
Mick Jagger. Frantz holds a bachelors degree in fine arts from the
Otis/Parson's College of Art and Design, as well as a master's degree in
fine arts from the University of California-Los Angeles.
Chris Torres has held various footwear design roles for Reebok since
2003 for the lifestyle, basketball and entertainment categories, including
significant work on the Pump line. He is a 2003 graduate from the College
of Creative Studies with a bachelor of fine arts in industrial design.
About Payless
Payless ShoeSource, Inc., the largest specialty family footwear
retailer in the Western Hemisphere, is dedicated to democratizing fashion
and design in footwear and accessories to inspire fun fashion possibilities
for the family. As of the end of the second quarter 2007, Payless operated
about 4,500 stores. In addition, customers can buy shoes over the Internet
through Payless.com(R) at http://www.payless.com.
Payless is a business unit of Collective Brands, Inc. (NYES: PSS), the
consumer-centric global footwear, accessories and lifestyle brand company,
reaching customers through multiple price points and selling channels.
Collective Brands, Inc. is the holding company of Payless ShoeSource,
Stride Rite and Collective Licensing International. Information about, and
links for shopping on, each of the Collective Brands units can be found at
http://www.collectivebrands.com
SOURCE Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.payless.com
CONTACT:
Mardi Larson, +1-612-928-0202,
mardi@mardilarson.com, for Payless ShoeSource, Inc.
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