????道格?湯普金斯與蘇西?湯普金斯?布埃爾

????1968年，蘇西?湯普金斯?布埃爾與她的一個朋友在舊金山創立了Esprit公司的前身，當時這家公司還不叫這個名字。不久后，隨著蘇西的丈夫道格賣掉了自己的服裝公司North Face，他也加入了Esprit的領導層。從80年代中期開始，他們的婚姻以及這家一度非常紅火的公司都陷入了嚴重的麻煩。二人于1989年離婚后，公司的“宮斗”戲還上演了好幾年。前一分鐘是道格領導公司，下一分鐘就換成了蘇西。

????當事人說：一名曾在該公司工作過的員工對《舊金山周刊》表示：“道格和蘇西都有很強的愿景，但他們之間的協同效應消失了，所以使公司變得更加困難，因為人們都知道公司有內部沖突。”

????結局：官司和收購來得比產品還快。如今，已經公開上市的Esprit控股公司將總部設在香港和德國。2011年，該公司在一份文件中稱：“過去幾年，這個品牌已經逐漸失去了靈魂。”

????Doug Tompkins and Susie Tompkins Buell

????Though founded by Susie Tompkins Buell and a friend in San Francisco in 1968 under a different name, Esprit 330 was soon also led by her husband Doug, after he sold his own clothing company, North Face. The once-successful line and the marriage both began having serious troubles in the mid-1980s, chronicled by SF Weekly. While the couple divorced in 1989, the business’ drama took years to unfold. One minute Doug was leading the company, the next Susie.

????Telling quote:"Both Doug and Susie had very strong visions, but some of the synergy had fallen away, so it did make it more difficult," a former employee told SF Weekly. "It was more difficult because people knew there was internal conflict."

????The upshot:Lawsuits and takeovers moved faster than the products. These days, the publicly traded Esprit Holdings is based in Hong Kong and Germany, and in 2011, the company said in a filing, "The brand has gradually lost its soul over the past few years."