Esprit pulling out of U.S., Canada

For those of you who have lived in D10, and around the Dogpatch in particular, long enough, this from BizJournal may interest you.  For those who haven't and wonder why it's called Esprit Park, well, now you know.  And for those of you too young to remember when Esprit was cool, well, I'm not sure I want to know you because you'll just make me feel old.

Esprit, a once-trendy fashion brand that was born and developed in San Francisco, is leaving the United States altogether.

The exit, which includes Esprit leaving Canada, is part of a four-year, $2.3 billion restructuring plan that focuses on improving Esprit's Asian and European businesses. While growth and profitability are in line with Esprit's five -year plan, the North American business was a money-loser, according to the company.

In addition to shutting down U.S. and Canadian stores, Esprit will close 80 other unprofitable stores, including retail operations in Denmark, Spain and Sweden.
That's not to say the San Francisco-born brand is in pure retrench mode. According to the Globe and Mail, it plans a trend unit in Paris and a design center in China to improve its fashions and speed to market. In particular, Esprit plans a new focus on denim. It also plans to open 200 new franchised stores internationally and to nearly double its store base in China.

Esprit is now based in Hong Kong, and it had revenue of $433.4 million for the year ended June 30, 2011.

Esprit has a long history in San Francisco, and was part of a number of apparel companies based in Potrero Hill in the 1980s. Its old corporate headquarters in the up-and-coming Dogpatch neighborhood have already been turned into trendy condos.