Levi UK appoints marketing chief after department rejig

Levi Strauss (UK) has created the role of marketing director for the first time and promoted UK marketing manager Roy Edmondson to fill the position.

The appointment comes after the denim giant decided to merge its marketing and merchandising functions, which had previously been managed separately.

The company says: “Merchandising has been about developing new products and marketing activity now has to relate intimately to that.”

The merchandising man-ager’s role has been ab-sorbed into marketing and the merchandising manager Per Gasseholm has moved to the US to take charge of the men’s jeans division.

Edmondson will report to the new commercial director Jack Cosgrove, who has been brought in from the San Francisco office where he is vice-president for womenswear.

Cosgrove replaces Jim Lape who has been promoted to general manager for Scandinavia.

Cosgrove will report to Janie Ligon, Levi’s general manager for the UK and Ireland, and will be based at the company’s UK headquarters in Northampton.

Levi’s marketing department recently lost its consumer marketing manager Shubhankar Ray. The company will announce a replacement for him after Easter.