Luxury Flip Flop Brand Hari Mari Taps Billy Reid CEO as New President
Hari Mari, the luxury flip flop brand based in Dallas, has named a new president today. The company announced that Jake Szczepanski would be taking the helm, effective immediately.
In his new role, Szczepanski, who has been a board member at Hari Mari for the past three years, will help scale and manage the company’s internal operations and supply chain to keep pace with the brand’s growth plans. In addition, he will lead the development and launch of Hari Mari’s first apparel line, which is slated to debut in the spring.
Szczepanski joins Hari Mari after co-founding and serving as CEO of menswear and womenswear label Billy Reid for 13 years.
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“His professionalism combined with his lifetime of consumer good and brand-building know how is going be an extraordinary feather in our cap as Hari Mari takes this next natural step into lifestyle and apparel categories,” said Hari Mari founder Jeremy Stewart. “And, with the sizeable growth Hari Mari has experienced over the last few years, we look forward to adding Jake’s experienced voice and leadership to our management team to help foster its next growth chapter.”
Hari Mari was founded in 2012 by husband-and-wife team Jeremy and Lila Stewart.
While the brand is known for its popular flip flops, priced around $60 to $80, its charitable outreach is a cornerstone of its brand identity. Through its Flops Fighting Cancer program, Hari Mari company sees 1% of sales supporting kids battling pediatric cancer.
“The Hari Mari brand has established a foundation and a strategy for continued success alongside a highly talented management team. As the footwear and fashion industry evolves during these unprecedented times, Hari Mari is uniquely positioned and poised for accelerated growth in the years to come,” Szczepanski said in a statement. “I look forward to leveraging my experience to build on the brand’s momentum, helping to grow a premium flip flop maker at its core into a fulsome premium lifestyle label in the months and years to come.”
