US fashion retailer Tommy Hilfiger, who recently acquired the rights to Lagerfeld’s brand from the German designer, has made the first appointment to build the brand worldwide. The New York-based corporation has hired Rodney Hutton from Armani fashion house to take care of merchandise at its Karl Lagerfeld’ s division, reports fibre2fashion.com.

Hutton, whose 9-year experience as a merchandising manager at Armani will help him take care of merchandise at Karl Lagerfeld division, will focus on expanding the distribution of existing Lagerfeld lines as well as of the launch of the new ones.

Hilfiger has acquired the trademarks of Karl Lagerfeld, as well as the brand’s two stores in Paris and Monaco on December 13 2004. The partners revealed their plans to expand the brand’s offering beyond Europe and Asia.