Patric Spethmann: the CEO leading German premium brand Marc Cain into the future

After seven years as chief operating officer at fashion group Marc O’Polo, Patric Spethmann is taking over as CEO at competitor Marc Cain, tasked with carrying founder Helmut Schlotterer's legacy into the future.

The chief operating officer

Spethmann has been working at Marc Cain's headquarters in Bodelshausen since the beginning of June. The 47-year-old did not arrive as a stranger to the German fashion industry. He is someone who has spent almost a decade making it more efficient from the inside.

Early roles at retail groups Tchibo and the Otto Group gave him a fundamental understanding of the scale and complexity of retail. He later served as chief operating officer (COO) at the homeware chain Depot, officially Gries Deco Company, where he expanded the international logistics and IT infrastructure. In 2017, he led the team to win the Supply Chain Management Award for a cloud-based order tracking system.

In the summer of 2019, he moved from the home accessories retailer to Marc O’Polo to drive its digital transformation, which included realigning its logistics. After seven years with the Stephanskirchen-based fashion company, the former chief operating officer considered his task complete. This is supported by the fact that the company decided not to fill the role, which had been created specifically for him at the time, after his departure.

“In my view, as a chief operating officer, you have to achieve your goals within five to eight years, which means tackling issues with great urgency and bringing about change,” Spethmann said in an interview with FashionUnited.

The question now is whether a man whose career has been defined by results-driven transformation can also become the public face and strategic driving force of one of Germany's more internationally renowned womenswear brands.

The team player

Spethmann's public appearances to date have revolved around technical topics. These include a case study on replacing fragmented legacy planning software with cloud-based infrastructure and a podcast episode about a past cyberattack at Marc O’Polo. The ease and clarity with which he can communicate the latter is striking, not only in its technical details but also in what it means for the company and its employees in the future.

Spethmann considers several skills to be extremely important for a CEO. These include keeping the bigger picture in mind, simplifying complex problems to their core, and communicating with transparency and authenticity.

“I have always been firmly convinced that a leadership role, whether CEO, COO or director, is a communication role. It is a matter of attitude, direction, decision-making, togetherness and a team mindset,” he said.

In conversation with Patric Spethmann, it quickly becomes clear that the manager sees himself as a team player. He considers himself a leader whose strength lies in building and developing a team of diverse characters. To this day, former colleagues contact him for advice on their next career move.

“Discovering and nurturing potential, giving people space, trusting each other and growing,” Spethmann explained. “This feeling that something of my work remains and that I have been able to help shape someone is fulfilling for me.”

The life's work

At Marc Cain, Spethmann plans to get an overview of the company in his first three months, as he has in his previous roles. Many C-level managers try to get as objective an impression as possible at the beginning before developing and implementing their strategies. The new boss does not want to comment on specific plans at this time.

Founded by Helmut Schlotterer in 1973, the company has grown from a small knitwear factory in Carpi, Italy, into a brand with 853 employees. According to the company, its most recent annual turnover was 240 million euros.

Marc Cain is one of the few companies that still operates production sites in Germany. This ranges from custom-made high-tech knitting machines to an in-house developed printing process using specially developed reactive dyes.

Spethmann's arrival marks a crucial phase for Marc Cain. The fashion market is undergoing structural change. Purchasing behaviour is shifting in the face of an oversupply of clothing and inflation. Companies must simultaneously invest in essential new technologies to remain competitive. Additionally, company founder Schlotterer intends to gradually step back from the business.

After a period of rapid changes in the boardroom, the 79-year-old founder has kept a firm grip on the reins until now. Before Spethmann's appointment, only head of sales Dirk Büscher sat alongside him on the management board. Schlotterer will remain chairman of the board until the new CEO is settled in.

“Primarily for the induction of Patric Spethmann and as a coach and advisor,” Schlotterer said in a statement in December. “Together, we will set the course to preserve our brand and values and to drive them forward strategically.”

Setting the course

From his previous positions at companies like Depot and Marc O’Polo, the new CEO is well acquainted with working in owner-managed businesses. Spethmann was drawn to Marc Cain by its combination of “creativity, quality and forward-thinking”.

“I have great respect for Mr Schlotterer, for his life's work, and for his understanding of where a company needs to go to remain relevant in the future,” said the Marc Cain CEO. “We are in complete agreement on this and think alike.”

Schlotterer began setting the course three years ago. He transferred the company to his employees as a foundation. By bequeathing his corporate and private assets to the staff, the founder hopes to carry his life's work into the future without selling it to a third party.

The model works roughly as follows: employees receive voting rights in the foundation, which is to be managed by a works council made up of active managers. Marc Cain prefers to communicate the exact details of the future corporate and management structure with Spethmann at a later date.

The future

The company operates in 57 countries, with over 119 of its own and partner stores, five outlets, and more than 1,000 points of sale worldwide. It recently opened its first store in Mexico and completed a strategic realignment in the US. Despite these international expansion efforts, however, revenue has remained stagnant in recent years.

In this context, it seems promising that Spethmann comes from Marc O’Polo, a fashion company that, against the industry trend, increased its turnover by 60 percent to 630 million euros over the past five years. When asked if this was a factor in his appointment as CEO and whether his experience is transferable, he played it down, stating that he was only one of five board members who contributed to this success.

He also noted that Marc O’Polo operates in a different fashion segment, positioned between mainstream and premium. “It is the same industry per se, but a different business. Marc Cain is clearly in the premium segment. It works differently, the customers think differently, you certainly can't transfer that one-to-one,” he explained. “Of course, there are some fundamental issues to address in order to achieve growth while increasing efficiency.”

It is clear that his proven skills in overhauling legacy systems will certainly be in demand at Marc Cain. With Spethmann's help, Schlotterer wants to position the company for the future to respond quickly and efficiently to the challenges of the dynamic fashion industry.

“Mr Schlotterer and I are clear about what is at stake here,” the CEO emphasised. “It is not just about appointing a new CEO, but about continuing his life's work so that it will continue to grow in the future. And we both know that.”

This article was translated to English using an AI tool.

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