Erik van Bilsen
Managing Director at Gaastra

The foundations for my career were laid down in my youth as a result of growing up within a fashion and textile oriented family. After finishing my Business Administration and Economics education, I began my career in office automation sales. After a few years, I was drawn back to my love of fashion and started work as a junior representative of Dimaggio, an exclusive shirt brand from the Mc Gregor Fashion Group. There, I progressed to Brand manager and, later, was promoted to General Manager of the McGregor Fashion Group’s shirts division. By the end of 2004, I had spent 6 years as a director of the McGregor Retail division and Adam Brandstore. Since 1 August 2010, I have been able to call myself General Director of Gaastra. In actual fact, I have been working for the organisation for the past 15 years.

What makes this role challenging for me is the continuous alertness that is required in order to shape a growing organisation and anticipate the opportunities and possibilities that are presented. Besides that, the construction of a European Lifestyle Brand is a supremely dynamic area with the corresponding responsibilities and freedoms.

At Gaastra, we are always on the lookout for new challenges and objectives within a clear vision and strategy. We apply the ‘nothing is impossible’ attitude. In line with this, there is plenty of room for personal development and I love working with young, ambitious people with plenty of drive who enjoy working towards a collective goal.  

Marc Kooiman
Commercial Director at Gaastra

My career in the world of fashion started in 1986 while studying business management at the University of Groningen. I learned about the retail trade from the inside out on the shop floor. My contacts with customers and the fashion trade gave me so much satisfaction that, after completing my studies, I decided to follow my heart and work in the fashion sector. I was able to do so by filling various international sales, marketing and purchasing positions in the wholesale and retail sectors, which finally led to my finding a position with Gaastra in May 2001.

The challenge was to take a typical Dutch sports brand and make it into a more international and very fashionable brand. I think we can be proud of the results we've already achieved, but we cannot afford to sit back and relax. We need to continue forwards and gain ground in the rest of Europe. I work towards realizing this on a daily basis, together with a group of enthusiastic and committed colleagues. As I see it, the dynamic nature of the people and the company, the international framework within which we operate, and the company values of our group are the cornerstones for making Gaastra even more successful in future.

Donna Schipper
Head of Design at Gaastra

After successfully completing my studies at the art academy in the field of fashion design, I started my career in 1992 as a designer for various Dutch clothing manufacturers. My drive and know-how were focused on designing ladies' coats and jackets. For a designer, these products present a fantastic challenge, as they really are quite complex and beautiful products.

In 2000, I started focusing on developing complete clothing collections for women. This challenging new phase of my career was an excellent sequel to my period as a jacket specialist. At the beginning of 2002, I was given the opportunity by Gaastra to set up the Women's collection.

In recent years, the Gaastra line of clothing for women has experienced enormous growth and has developed into a full-fledged and very fashionable collection which we can be proud of.

Since 2004, I have worked as Head of Design and provided creative guidance to a national and international design team. I am responsible for creating the Men's, Women's and Juniors' labels. Each new season, my own interest in sailing, travelling and shopping gives me new inspiration for developing colour cards and mood boards and, together with the Creative Director and an enthusiastic design team, I work passionately on developing an innovative and commercially interesting collection.

After gaining experience in the world of ready-to-wear clothing manufacturers, I started working in the fashion sector in 1982. In 1984, I launched the Bad Boys brand, which was acquired by another company 2 years later. I continued to work for the company as Creative Director until 1994, after which I had the opportunity of making a creative contribution over a period of two years to relaunching the McGregor Fashion Group.

In 1996, I started working for various European brands as a product consultant, in the course of which I came into contact with Gaastra, where I have been working since 1997 as Creative Director responsible for brand concept and development.

I am passionate and driven when it comes to ensuring that Gaastra continues its successful track record of growth and development as a leading European fashion brand with a nautical signature. This involves all parts of the business on a day-to-day basis. We are quite ambitious and always searching for new challenges and creative opportunities. I travel a lot in an effort to develop a global perspective and also do my utmost to continually inspire and 'challenge' my colleagues.

Michel Heijne Head of Buying at Gaastra After completing my HEAO (School for Business Administration and Economics) studies in Business Management, I worked in the insurance sector for 7 years. After realizing that insurance was not really my thing, I ended up at the McGregor Group. What struck me most was the enormous enthusiasm of the people here in a very dynamic environment. I started working in the Shirt House, where we sold brands such as Dimaggio, King, Royal Cotton and Elmior. I then worked for a year in retail, after which I moved to Gaastra. I started here in Finance and then grew into the role of Operations Manager.  The working environment here is excellent, as the organization is very dynamic and I get along very well with my colleagues. As a result, I get into the car each morning looking forward to enjoying another successful day. The biggest challenge here is the fact that we simply do not yet know how far we can go as a company. I'm proud to be part of the company and aim to help make an already successful company even more successful by helping to ensure that each member of the team can develop his or her talents to the fullest.

Xander Kooij European Finance Manager at Gaastra  Before I started my Business Administration course, specialising in bank and insurance work, I had already had a ‘sniff’ of the fashion and retail sector via several part-time jobs based on the shop floor. While completing my course, my attention remained focused on this sector and the organisations that work therein. An interest in understanding all of the goings-on behind the shop floor and the dynamic of the sector drove me to start my career in 2002 within the retail division of the McGregor Fashion Group. After about 3 years, in mid-2005, I was offered the opportunity to supplement the experience I had already accumulated within one of the group's wholesale cornerstones: Gaastra. Over the past few years, Gaastra has seen spectacular growth in terms of both turnover and organisation. At both a national and international level. This means that all of the available resources – capital, people and systems – must be used as effectively as possible, in the broadest sense of the word, in order to continue to fulfil all of the requirements associated with reporting and (management) information and also enable us to carry on developing and improving for the future. For me, this represents the challenge of my current role. I do this with the group of dedicated and hugely driven professionals that surround me. In combination with an organisation and a sector that is very dynamic, this has an amazingly contagious and motivational effect on me.