Receiving a salary of more than $5 million a year puts you squarely within the 1%. And, in the fashion industry, 67 earners are lucky and industrious enough to see a paycheck that padded. Among them include presidents, merchandising offers, talent officers, and one creative director (Reed Krakoff of Coach Inc., which gives us creatives some hope!), though the large majority are CEOs of large, mass retailers such as JCPenney, Target, and Kohl's. Unfortunately, even though it's the fashion industry, a largely female-centric and -dominated sphere, only six out of the 67 were women (who included execs from Ralph Lauren, The TJX Cos. Inc., Ann Inc., Victoria's Secret Limited Brands Inc., Kohl's Corp., and Target Corp.).
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Says Terre Simpson, president of Simpson Associates, "In order to be a CEO, you usually are in your 40s or older. Those generations, the women and men were treated differently growing up. Girls had to behave. You weren't allowed to take chances. It was a different world." What's more, Simpson believes that those already making top dollar don't really care about a few extra million: "None of them have to work for money. It’s the drive for success and accomplishment. They work because of the challenge; it’s not really the compensation, that’s the secondary result of their drive to be challenged," she says.
Here's to not only seeing that ratio balance out in the coming decade, but also more people getting a chance at that pie. Hey — if they're not going to be missing it in the first place ... (WWD)
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