Paule Ka hands over the reins to Catherine Vautrin

By

Anaïs Lerévérend

Published
Jan 20, 2015

The succession of Serge Cajfinger is finally complete. Six months after the departure of the founder of Paule Ka, who was both its CEO and creative director, the Parisian house has announced the appointment of a new CEO. The position goes to Catherine Vautrin, who just left the same role at Cerruti in December.

Since the departure of its founder in July, Antoine Bing, deputy general manager, has served as the interim CEO of Paule Ka. It was a short-term solution since he had already made his departure known for after this transition. Antoine Bing will thus leave his position at the beginning of February.

The house belonging to American private equity firm Change Capital Partners since 2011 is thus entrusting its fate to an executive with extensive experience in the luxury world. Other than her role as CEO of Cerruti since 2011, she was also president at Emilio Pucci and worked at Louis Vuitton before that, first in charge of developing the image of Louis Vuitton shops around the world, before becoming the label's director of ready-to-wear collections for men and women. Catherine Vautrin has also been on the board of directors of the Italian e-commerce site Yoox depuis 2009.

Her arrival at the head of Paule Ka will soon be followed by the appointment of a new creative director. It has been the design studio already in place that has been continuing the work for the label since the departure of Serge Cajfinger.

Launched 27 years ago, the brand generated 50 million euros in revenue in 2013 and is present in 56 countries via 475 points of sale and 60 mono-brand stores.

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