Luxury cashmere fashion brand Wyse London has quickly appointed a new CEO, with Kara Groves taking up the key post. She replaces Suzy Slavid who has just returned to fashion retailer River Island as its trading managing director. 

However Slavid, who had been CEO of Wyse London for two years, will remain a non-executive director there.

Her replacement Groves will be responsible for driving the brand’s direct-to-consumer business in the UK while also spearheading further expansion in the US.

She brings over 15 years’ executive level experience having held senior roles with several premium/lifestyle brands.

Most recently, Groves was chief executive at chidrenswear brand Bambino Mio where she focused on the brand’s repositioning to reinvigorate growth.

Previous to that she was chief operating officer at womenswear brand Mint Velvet where she was charged with reshaping the brand’s store portfolio and heading international expansion.
 
Meanwhile, Groves also spent seven years at Joules, latterly as chief commercial officer until 2018, spearheading a threefold increase in turnover through an expansion of the lifestyle brand’s product offer across many routes to market, including the US.
 
Groves said: “What I find most rewarding is working with founder-led businesses – Marielle [Wyse] is a real inspiration and brings energy and life to so many creative aspects of the brand as well as a laser-focused attention to detail.” 

She added: “Our mindset will remain customer centric – we deeply understand our loyal customer base and will continue to cultivate grow and evolve with her needs.  We like to push boundaries and elevate wherever we can.  We are looking forward to expanding our presence both here in the UK and in the US market.”