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Knix founder Joanna Griffiths is stepping down and handing the presidency to Nicole Tapscott; Macy’s has named Alexandre Choueiri CEO of Bluemercury; and Rabanne has appointed Olivier Rousteing as its new creative director.
Nicole Tapscott takes over as Knix president on August 1. She’s not new to the building: as chief commercial officer, she’s spent the past two years doubling the brand’s store count and pushing its combined portfolio, which includes teen label KT by Knix and menswear line Mntd, past $1 billion in cumulative sales. Founder Joanna Griffiths is stepping aside, ending a 14-year run at the company she built from nothing in 2013.
Griffiths confirmed the exit on social media. Essity, the Swedish hygiene giant, bought 80 per cent of Knix in 2022 at a valuation near $400 million. Griffiths is now selling the rest, her remaining 20 per cent, and walking away from ownership entirely. Sahil Tesfu, Essity’s chief strategy and sustainability officer, said the company plans to keep operating Knix out of Toronto for the foreseeable future.
Before Knix, there was a publicist job at Universal Music Group, then another at the Toronto International Film Festival. Griffiths launched the label on leakproof underwear and sold it wholesale through Hudson’s Bay at first. In 2016 she pulled out of more than 700 North American retail doors to chase direct-to-consumer sales. Five years later came a $53 million funding round, closed three days before she gave birth to twins; she turned away any investor who questioned whether pregnancy would slow her down.
“I will always be a champion and supporter of Knix,” Griffiths said of Tapscott, who arrived in 2024 from Mejuri and, before that, Casper. Tapscott inherits an expansion plan that calls for more than 30 Canadian stores, including a first location in Atlantic Canada, and closer wholesale ties with Target and Revolve. Cyntia Leo joined recently as chief marketing officer, arriving from Nike and Urban Outfitters. Griffiths is heading off to travel with her family. She has already backed Canadian haircare brand Everist and skincare label Paume.
Bluemercury just posted a 6.4 percent jump in comparable sales, on the back of makeup, dermatological skincare and fragrance, including Byredo and Parfums de Marly. Macy’s, Inc. describes Bluemercury as one of its three current nameplates, alongside Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s. Macy’s chief executive Tony Spring has described the Bluemercury customer as someone who could just as easily shop Bloomingdale’s, drawn to the intimacy of the format and the service.
Macy’s, Inc. has named Alexandre Choueiri CEO of Bluemercury, effective August 3. He reports to Olivier Bron, chief executive of Bloomingdale’s, and succeeds Maly Bernstein, who had run the retailer since 2021.
Choueiri spent more than 25 years in global beauty, starting at L’Oréal, then rising to CEO and president of the Americas at Kering Beauté, where he strengthened Creed’s position in luxury fragrance and helped launch new scents for Bottega Veneta and Balenciaga.
Bluemercury began as two struggling independent beauty boutiques in Georgetown, bought and rebranded in 1999 by Marla Malcolm Beck and Barry J. Beck. Macy’s acquired the chain in 2015 for $210 million. Its freestanding neighbourhood stores now carry Chantecaille and Diptyque alongside proprietary lines M-61 and Lune+Aster.
Olivier Rousteing left Balmain less than a year ago. Rabanne has named him creative director, filling a seat Julien Dossena vacated earlier this year after thirteen years. Rousteing’s debut collection is scheduled for March 2027, at Paris Fashion Week’s fall/winter shows.
Fourteen years followed of ornate embroidery and heavy embellishment and a celebrity following famous enough to earn its own name, the Balmain Army. There was a 2023 beauty and fragrance launch with Estée Lauder. Before any of it, he trained at the École Supérieure des Arts et Techniques de la Mode in Paris and spent five years climbing from an eighteen-year-old intern to head of womenswear at Roberto Cavalli in Milan.
“Joining Rabanne is a tremendous honour,” Rousteing said in a statement, citing the house’s long history with unconventional materials and its founder’s vision of freedom and individuality. Puig, which owns Rabanne, said the appointment is meant to tie the house’s fashion and beauty businesses more closely together moving forward.
Dossena spent thirteen years at Rabanne, credited by industry press with transforming the house from a fragrance-led name into one of Paris Fashion Week’s more consistently praised ready-to-wear labels, expanding into accessories along the way, including the shoulder bags other brands have since copied. Trade coverage at the time identified his fall/winter 2026 collection as his final show for the house. Paco Rabanne built the house in 1966 on unconventional materials, chainmail dresses among them, the kind Charlotte Rampling wore decades before Miley Cyrus did.
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