Fashion
Eastpak appoints Marie Gras as vice president, global brand
Published
December 1, 2025
A running specialist is all set to drive growth in Eastpak‘s bags business. VF Corp’s luggage brand, a major player in the backpack market in France and across Europe, has appointed a new global brand vice president. Marie Gras, who has served as vice president for running at the French sporting-goods giant Decathlon for nearly two and a half years, is leaving Hauts-de-France to join VF Corp’s Antwerp offices. From Belgium, the group operates Eastpak as well as Kipling (led by Domitille Parent, who previously headed Eastpak).
For Marie Gras, a first challenge looms with last weekend’s reopening of an Eastpak flagship on London’s Carnaby Street. The store is located at 35 Carnaby Street and spans two floors. The brand opened its first-ever store on the London thoroughfare in 2008, in a 170-square-metre space.
Marie Gras helped implement Decathlon’s recent running strategy, in one of the world’s fastest-growing sports. Through its dedicated running brand, Kiprun, Decathlon has launched a running app and, notably, formed agreements with partners in new territories to develop Kiprun spaces beyond its own Decathlon stores. Previously, the executive spent almost eight years at Adidas, most recently overseeing the brand’s activities and events in Paris, one of the key cities in the brand’s global visibility strategy.
Eastpak is one of the luggage brands owned by the VF Corp group, which is currently streamlining its operations. The group also owns Kipling, to which it has given fresh momentum in recent months, as well as JanSport, focused on the US market. Eastpak, which benefits from numerous collaborations with designers and mass-market licences, such as Diesel and Gremlins, was founded in 1952 under the name Eastern Canvas Products. In France and Western Europe, it holds a key position among lower- and upper-secondary students. However, across the functional backpack category as a whole (excluding hiking backpacks), the French brand Cabaïa has gained market share in recent years and now claims category leadership in France.
For Eastpak, the challenges are therefore to scale up its entire bags and luggage range and to strengthen its competitiveness against emerging European players in various markets, such as Rains, Ucon Acrobatics, Qwstion, Kapten & Son, Tucano, Ferrino, Ecoalf, Lefrik, and Sandqvist.
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Directed and shot by Mert Alas, the new chapter sharpens the focus on denim as the ultimate expression of personal style through icon Jung Kook’s distinctive and influential point of view as he lives in the moment.
Calvin Klein, owned by PVH Corp., has unveiled its Spring 2026 denim campaign fronted by BTS icon Jung Kook.
Directed and photographed by Mert Alas, the cinematic film fuses music, movement and city energy, highlighting 90s Straight, Baggy and reworked Trucker silhouettes.
A special appearance by Rosie Perez amplifies the brand’s signature visual storytelling.
The campaign unfolds across a series of immersive worlds, unified and guided by Jung Kook’s style, attitude and way of living. The high-impact film fuses fashion and entertainment, moving to an instantly recognizable soundtrack and brought to life through the artist’s signature choreography and commanding presence. The interplay of music and movement – complete with a cameo from New York City legend Rosie Perez – captures the impact synonymous with Calvin Klein’s iconic visual storytelling.
Calvin Klein jeans are at the center of the wardrobe with hero silhouettes leading the narrative: the effortless attitude of the 90s Straight; the relaxed and nostalgic proportions of the Baggy; and new interpretations of the iconic Trucker jacket — all reimagined with elevated washes and designed for versatility. Casual logo tees and oversized bombers complete the looks, reinforcing denim as both uniform and statement.
“I love Calvin Klein jeans because they’re designed to be lived in,” said Jung Kook. “The looks I wore for this campaign nod to ‘90s style while feeling completely modern. It was exciting to bring together my love of music, dance and fashion against the energy of the city.”
Note: The headline, insights, and image of this press release may have been refined by the Fibre2Fashion staff; the rest of the content remains unchanged.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (RM)
Premier Li Qiang, who delivered the report at the opening of the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress in Beijing, said the growth target is “well aligned with the country’s long-range objectives through the year 2035 and is broadly in line with the long-term growth potential of China’s economy, with favorable conditions in place for achieving this target.”
China has set a GDP growth target of 4.5–5 per cent for 2026, alongside goals to stabilise employment, manage inflation, maintain grain output and cut emissions.
The plan also preserves flexibility for structural reforms under the 15th Five-Year Plan, aiming to balance steady economic expansion with long-term, high-quality and sustainable development.
Main development targets for 2026 also include a surveyed urban unemployment rate of around 5.5 per cent, creation of over 12 million new urban jobs, a rise in the consumer price index of around 2 per cent, personal income growth in step with economic growth, a basic equilibrium in the balance of payments, grain output of around 700 million tonnes, and a drop of around 3.8 per cent in carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP.
Qiang said the targets took into account the need to leave room for structural adjustments, risk prevention and reform in the opening year of the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026–30) period, to lay a solid foundation for improved performance in the coming years. Government at local level should, taking into account their own conditions, make solid efforts to deliver positive outcomes, he added.
Analysts said the 2026 target reflects a pragmatic approach in recognising structural and cyclical challenges facing the world’s second-largest economy, while pursuing reasonable growth in line with high-quality development.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (JP)
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