EXCLUSIVE: Waterproof Sneaker Brand Vessi Hires Adidas Alum Lorrin Pascoe as Chief Marketing Officer
Canadian waterproof sneaker brand Vessi is adding to its executive team with the naming of its first chief marketing officer.
The shoe brand, which launched in 2018 on Kickstarter, has named 20-year marketing veteran Lorrin Pascoe to the new CMO role.
Pascoe joins Vessi from fintech company Koho, where he most recently served as chief marketing officer.
Pascoe is making a return to footwear, after spending nearly 10 years at Adidas. While at the Three Stripes, Pascoe held the roles of senior director of global brand and sports marketing as well as senior manager of global brand marketing, among others. Pascoe has also held marketing roles at home sound system company Sonos.
In an exclusive interview with FN, Pascoe said that in his new role, he will be responsible for scaling Vessi, both in the U.S. and globally. The executive added that he will also work on the continual evolution of the brand’s omnichannel operations by putting an emphasis on retail.
“In addition to our wholesale business, we have grown to four of our own doors now,” Pascoe told FN. “It’s really important to continue to grow the brand at retail, while also looking at home consumers can experience the brand in fun and unexpected ways.”
As for what he’s most excited about in his new role, Pascoe said he can’t wait to introduce the brand to more people.
“When one of the founders, Andy (Wang), reach out to me to see if I was interested in joining the brand, I hadn’t thought about going back into the footwear space,” Pascoe admitted. “But Andy said something early on, which is this kind of belief that Vessi fosters, which is, ‘there isn’t bad weather there’s just bad clothing.’ And he sent me a bunch of pairs, and I tested them out through the rain, and they are actually fully waterproof. So, I really want people to have the same ‘aha moment’ I had.”
Pascoe also noted that he was looking forward to fostering the brand’s relationships with retailers as well as positioning Vessi in a way to become part of sneaker culture.
“I have looked at the model of how this works so well for so many brands, and I respect so many footwear brands that are out there,” Pascoe added. “They’re doing incredible things. And so picking partners that we can work with, where we can help them, they can help us, and where we can come lean a little bit more into being a true part of sneaker culture is definitely on my radar.”