Andrew Rosen (retail executive)
| Andrew Rosen | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | CEO of Theory |
| Spouse(s) | Adrian Mottola (divorced) Jenny Dyer (current) |
| Children | Austin, Ashley |
Andrew Rosen is an American retail executive. Currently C.E.O. of Theory, Inc., a New York-based clothing retailer he co-founded in 1997, Rosen is a third-generation garment industry entrepreneur. Rosen has served for years as a judge in the CFDA Fashion Awards, and as a mentor to many of its finalists. Rosen has been a key investor in a number of emerging American designers, including Alice + Olivia, J Brand, rag & bone, and Proenza Schouler.
Rosen grew up immersed in the New York City garment industry. His first job was in a knitting mill on Long Island, operating punch cards. His grandfather Arthur Rosen, a Russian immigrant and a skilled garment cutter, founded the Puritan Dress Company in 1910 in Waltham, Massachusetts. His son Carl took over the business in the 1950s, and relocated it to New York City’s department store district. Carl Rosen changed the company’s name to the Puritan Fashions Corporation.
In 1977 Carl Rosen produced the first designer jeans, with a license from Calvin Klein. Barry Schwartz, Klein’s business partner at the time, told the Wall Street Journal: Carl proposed giving us $1 for a $18.75 pair of jeans that sold for $40 retail…we wound up selling 15 million pairs a year at the peak. Puritan continued to license merchandise with other designers, including a clothing line with Diane von Furstenberg. By Carl Rosen’s death in 1983, the company’s sales totaled nearly $300 million.
Andrew Rosen dropped out college after one year at the University of Miami. At 26, Rosen took over as C.E.O. of Puritan after his father’s death, but oversaw flagging profits. Calvin Klein and Barry Schwartz acquired the company after a year, inviting Rosen to stay on as an executive, and four years later named him company president. Rosen quit Puritan to work as C.E.O. of Anne Klein for six years. According to the New Yorker, he was fired from Anne Klein "because of disagreements over the brand’s strategy”. In 1997, Rosen partnered with the designer Elie Tahari to found Theory. Rosen and Tahari’s most important style innovation was the introduction of technically sophisticated stretch fabrics to a modern business silhouette. The Wall Street Journal writes that “Rosen bet that he could build a business on unfussy, well-made pants and shirts with no auteur behind them, and he won big.” By 2003, the company had annual sales of over $200 million (1), and Rosen and Tahari sold the label to its Japanese licensee, Link Holdings.
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