Executive Search · Fashion & Luxury
Fashion & Luxury Executive Search
The Quantum Club places the leaders and operators behind ambitious fashion and luxury houses: founders' right hands, growth and retail leadership, creative and commercial talent. Exclusive, unlisted mandates on a No Cure, No Pay model, reaching the people the open market never lists.
The fashion talent problem
In fashion and luxury, the difference between a good hire and the right one is taste, network, and timing, none of which a CV captures. The best merchandisers, growth leads, and brand operators are usually inside a competitor, not answering a listing. Timing matters too: a candidate in the middle of delivering a collection may not be free to move until it ships, so the calendar is worth raising at the brief. Reaching the right person takes standing relationships and a credible approach, not a job post.
Where the network runs deep
Executives the Club has placed have come from houses such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel, Hermès, Cartier, Saint Laurent and Bottega Veneta, across creative leadership, merchandising, maison leadership and retail. That pedigree matters less as a list of names than as a map: it tells a strategist where a profile is likely to sit today, and how to reach it well. The network itself is 1,000+ members worldwide, admitted on track record and fit, so a slate is drawn from people already known to the Club rather than from a cold search.
What to settle before you brief
The strongest fashion briefs answer three questions early. First, which house codes the hire must protect, and which they are free to change. Second, whether the seat builds or runs: a first store, a new market or a wholesale push usually needs a different person from one who keeps an established operation sharp. Third, how your package and the path the seat offers compare with what the candidate would leave behind at a larger house. A strategist works through these with you at the brief, so the slate answers the real question.
Creative seats and commercial seats
A Creative Director and a Head of Retail are both senior fashion hires, but they are different searches. A creative seat is judged on a body of work, and on whether the candidate's taste can live inside the house's codes; a commercial seat on the numbers moved and the teams built. The founder's right hand sits between the two and is often the hardest brief to write, because the role is defined by what the founder no longer has time to hold. Naming that plainly at the brief is often what makes the slate right.
Discretion on both sides
A senior candidate inside a maison rarely wants to be seen talking to a competitor, and a house replacing a creative or commercial lead rarely wants the market to know. The Club runs fashion mandates confidentially by default: no listing, NDA-backed conversations, the brand disclosed only as trust is established, and every approach confirmed with the principal first. A member's interest is never shared with a current employer without explicit consent.
After the signature
The relationship does not end when the contract is signed. The Club supports the hire through onboarding and checks in after placement, and the guarantee laid down in your agreement covers the case where a hire does not hold: a free replacement search, or the fee credited against your next placement. A CV in, a fee out is how agencies work; the Club is built around long careers and the houses it serves.
Proof in fashion and luxury retail
For Merrachi, the premium modest-fashion house founded and creatively directed by Nada Merrachi, the Club placed a Head of Retail, a Creative Director and an E-commerce & Growth Lead. Merrachi has reached 200% annual growth, been featured in Vogue Business, and opened the first modest-fashion store in Amsterdam. For the founders' group behind Dore & Rose, the luxury sleep brand stocked by 150+ retailers including Nordstrom, the Club placed a Head of Growth and a CFO. Real operators, real outcomes: the rooms the market never lists.
Seats the Club has filled
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Head of Retail
Runs the store and the client experience, often the first place a house's standard is tested in a new city.
Placed for Merrachi
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Creative Director
Holds the house's visual language and moves it forward without losing what made it.
Placed for Merrachi
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E-commerce & Growth Lead
Turns an international following into revenue online, across markets and channels.
Placed for Merrachi
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Head of Growth
Owns growth end to end as a luxury brand widens its retail footprint.
Placed for Dore & Rose
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CFO
Stewards the numbers through the most demanding phase of the scale.
Placed for Dore & Rose How to Hire a CFO
Selected work
How the search runs
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Brief
A strategist scopes the seat with you within 24 hours, in confidence: the house codes, the stage of the business, and the profile that fits both.
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Map the houses
The search starts from where the profile sits today. Approaches are direct, personal and off-market, and each one is confirmed with the principal before it is made.
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Assess for fit
Every candidate is personally approached and screened, and assessed for fit, not just availability. Location, family and lifestyle are weighed in every match, which matters when the right person is in another fashion capital.
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Place
You meet a short list, choose, and place on No Cure, No Pay. Each candidate's Talent Concierge handles preparation and negotiation, and the hire is supported through onboarding.
Terms of engagement
- The model
- No Cure, No Pay. Nothing is owed for the search itself: no retainer and no upfront payment.
- When a fee is owed
- Only when a candidate you chose signs. Every further hire of a candidate the Club introduced, even for a different role, is its own placement with its own fee.
- The fee
- 25% of the agreed gross annual salary, holiday pay included and variable bonuses and one-off payments excluded, unless your agreement fixes another rate. Partner rates are agreed per engagement. Amounts are exclusive of VAT.
- The guarantee
- Its terms are laid down in your agreement. It is honored as a free replacement search or as a credit against your next placement, never as a cash refund, and is claimed in writing within fourteen days of the employment ending.
- Payment
- Invoices are payable within 14 days of the invoice date, unless your agreement says otherwise.
- Ways in
- Club Promo, a complimentary slate of five candidates for one mandate; Club Partner, the flagship engagement with a dedicated strategist; Elite Partner, by invitation, at a reduced fee.
- First reply
- Within 24 hours of a brief, in confidence.
The full terms are set out in your agreement and the deposited General Terms & Conditions (in Dutch).
Frequently asked
Do you recruit for fashion and luxury brands?
Yes. Fashion, luxury, and premium retail are core to the Club's work, from founders' right hands to growth, merchandising, and creative leadership.
How do you find senior fashion talent that isn't looking?
Through a vetted network and direct, confidential approach: the Club reaches passive, top-decile operators inside the houses, not a public applicant pool.
What does fashion executive search cost?
No Cure, No Pay: nothing for the search and no retainer. A fee is owed only when a hire you chose signs: 25% of the agreed gross annual salary unless your agreement fixes another rate, with partner rates agreed per engagement. The guarantee is as laid down in your agreement, honored as a free replacement search or a credit against your next placement, never as a cash refund.
Which fashion and luxury roles has the Club placed?
A Head of Retail, a Creative Director and an E-commerce & Growth Lead for Merrachi, and a Head of Growth and a CFO for the founders' group behind Dore & Rose. Executives the Club has placed have come from houses such as Prada, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Chanel and Hermès.
Can a luxury search stay confidential?
Yes. Fashion mandates run confidentially by default: no public listing, NDA-backed conversations, and the brand disclosed only as trust is established. A candidate's interest is never shared with a current employer without explicit consent.
How long does a fashion executive search take?
A senior search typically takes two to four months from brief to signed offer. A candidate who is delivering a collection may not be free to move until it ships, so it is worth raising timing at the brief.
Sources
Cited by the case studies under Selected work
- Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe 2026 (opens in a new tab) · Dore & Rose
- Forbes · Verlaat & Nijhof (opens in a new tab) · Dore & Rose
Hire through the Club.
A partner strategist replies within 24 hours, in confidence.