Aritzia CEO Brian Hill steps down

By

Jennifer Braun

Published
May 9, 2022

Vancouver-based fashion retailer Aritzia Inc. is welcoming a new CEO. 

Founder Brian Hill said he will step down as chief executive officer after 38 years and transition to executive chair on May 21, 2022, leaving Jennifer Wong to become chief executive officer of Aritzia at that time. 

In her new role, Wong will lead Aritzia's people and business, while continuing to lead business management functions and assume leadership of its sales channels, with oversight of e-commerce immediately and retail coming in due course.

Likewise, as executive chair, Hill will continue to drive Aritzia's long-term growth and develop their much-loved Everyday Luxury experience with full-time functional area leadership of product, marketing, real estate development, and business development. 

"There is no better time and no one better to lead Aritzia into the future than Jennifer Wong. It is evident that our tremendous success is a result of Jennifer's contributions. She has been instrumental in accelerating our growth and will lead Aritzia in capitalizing on the incredible opportunities we see ahead,” said Hill.
   
The leadership change was announced as Aritzia shared net income results of $34.2 million in its most recent quarter, up 113 percent from $16.1 million a year earlier, beating expectations. Net revenue also increased by 66.1 percent to $444.3 million from Q4 2021 and 61.3 percent from Q4 2020. 

Meanwhile, for the full-year fiscal 2022 ended February 27, 2022, net income was $156.9 million, compared to $19.2 million in fiscal 2021.

Net revenue increased by 74.3 percent to $1.5 billion, compared to $857.3 million in fiscal 2021. The results were due to unprecedented acceleration of sales in the United States, where net revenues increased by 131.8 percent to $676.1 million, compared to $291.7 million in fiscal 2021. 

The company also saw meaningful growth in Canada where net revenue increased by 44.7 percent to $818.5 million, compared to $565.6 million in fiscal 2021.

Looking ahead, into the first quarter of fiscal 2023, Aritzia is on-track to deliver net revenue of approximately $375 million, representing just over a 50 percent increase compared to last year.