New York, NY -- Jack Pearson is apparently on the way out as vice president and general manager of the leased Maximilian salons at Bloomingdale's. Unconfirmed reports last week said Pearson had become a victim of efforts by parent company Revillon to streamline operations.

The company made no formal announcement before Fur Age went to press, and neither Pearson nor Revillon responded to phone calls last week, but reliable sources close to Revillon said Trish Lucas, buyer for Maximilian, has been promoted to vice president of merchandising.

The move was considered fairly predictable to anyone who has watched major changes take place at Revillon over the past year. The primary reason for maintaining the two divisions within the company -- Revillon at Saks Fifth Avenue and Maximilian at Bloomingdale's -- was to accommodate the competing department stores. Now that Revillon is leaving Saks in the spring and setting up its own freestanding stores, that reason is eliminated.

Last summer, Claude Potier of Revillon praised Pearson's leadership of Maximilian, saying, "Mr. Pearson has already built it up from less than $7 million in 1990 (in 10 stores) to more than $16 million in 1994 (in 12 stores). With about five more large salons to be opened, his goal for 1998 is at $25 million."

After a slow start this season, Maximilian had extremely successful sales results during the months of November and December.

Pearson's future plans are unknown at this time. If they had to lay odds, industry pundits would put him at Birger Christensen in no time at all. Birger Christensen has taken over the Saks leases, and David Wolfe, Pearson's mentor, is executive vice president of the company.

Pearson's career in the fur industry was launched at Neiman Marcus. From here he began running the Bloomingdale's fur salons, then under the auspices of the Fur Vault. When Revillon took over the lease and created its Maximilian division about seven years ago, Pearson was a natural for the job. He is considered one of the most talented merchants in the fur industry today. He sits on the board of directors of the Fur Information Council of America, and his leadership in the fashion arena led him to take the position of board director of fashion for that industry organization. As such, he has devoted substantial time and energy to promotional work that has helped not just Maximilian but the entire trade.

Revillon Inc., which is based in Paris, is part of the Cora-Revillon group of companies, one of the largest privately held conglomerates in France, with sales of $10 billion and 30,000 employees in various fields such as luxury products (furs, perfumes, cosmetics and accessories), hypermarkets and supermarkets, graphic arts, high technology, film production and banking.