Leadership Shift at Marc Cain: Founder Steps Down, Former Marc O’Polo Exec Steps Up

Marc Cain relieves its captain. The German brand specializing in premium fashion items has announced the relief of Helmut Schlotterer, founder and owner of the company, incorporating Patric Spethmann as the new leader as of June 1st, 2026.

Schlotterer will remain attached to the company as chairman of the board, to “advise Spethmann,“ the company said in a statement. The new CEO has more than six years of experience as chief operating officer and member of the board of directors of the also German denim specialist Marc O’Polo, which went into bankruptcy in August after being unable to support the level of debt and financial costs.

Marc Cain opened in mid-year its ninth single-brand store in the Spanish market at number 220 Roselló Street, in the heart of Barcelona’s Eixample, one of the most important commercial districts of the Catalan capital.“With this new store in Barcelona , we are taking an important step in the international expansion of our retail business,“ Schlotterer explained at the time.

Marc Cain carried out a battery of openings in tourist spots in Spain, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Marbella and the Canary Islands

Marc Cain aims to position itself in areas of high tourist traffic and potential connection with the German clientele. Thus, the Barcelona store is located a few meters from the Diagonal metro station and modernist icons such as Gaudi’s La Pedrera, and has carried out other openings in Madrid, Marbella, Palma de Mallorca and several points in the Canary Islands.

On a global scale, the German company is present in more than 60 countries and has a distribution network of more than 160 single-brand stores and around 1,000 multi-brand points of sale.

Founded in 1973 by Schlotterer himself, Marc Cain has historically been committed to a premium positioning based on contemporary design, high quality materials and strong vertical integration. The company is headquartered in Bodelshausen (Germany), where it also maintains its own production center, innovation laboratories and its design and logistics departments.