John Lewis has announced the appointment of a new chief customer officer with experienced fashion retail exec Anna Braithwaite set to take up the role on 1 October. 

She’ll report to Peter Ruis, MD of John Lewis, and we’re told she “brings a deep expertise in customer and brand strategy”. 

Braithwaite will be responsible for leading the John Lewis brand and marketing across all channels, loyalty, customer experience, and creative and content teams, with a remit to ensure “the brand continues to deliver exceptional quality, value and service for its customers”.

She has more than 25 years of brand and marketing experience, most of it immersed in the fashion sector, and actually began her career at John Lewis, joining as a graduate trainee before spending a decade in a variety of marketing roles. 

After that she moved to Hobbs and Jacques Vert before joining Tesco, where she was head of brand marketing for F&F Clothes and global brand director for non-food. Most recently, she was M&S’s marketing director for fashion, home and beauty.

Ruis said “her understanding of the John Lewis brand and her laser focus on the needs of customers makes her the ideal person to lead our customer and marketing strategy”. 

UK retail property giant Landsec said this week that it’s “reached the next major milestone in its transformation of Gunwharf Quays after breaking ground at Marlborough Square”.

Its latest round of improvements is designed to boost the visitor experience and reinforce the Portsmouth outlet destination’s appeal among affluent shoppers and international visitors. 

The owner/operator of key retail centres including Bluewater, Trinity Leeds and Liverpool One, said Gunwharf Quays remains one of the UK’s best-performing retail outlets.

And having upgraded The Avenues part of the property earlier this year, it expects the new works (which will be complete next spring) to add to its appeal.

It’s enhancing shopfronts and façades, improving landscaping, expanding washrooms, and adding extra seating, all designed to “improve dwell time and enable stronger flagship presentations”. 

A new retail unit will also launch “to bring a new brand experience to the centre in time for peak trade over the Golden Quarter” and brands including Crew Clothing and M&S will move into larger units, with M&S expected to continue trading throughout the works.

The new investment follows what it said has been a period of “standout commercial success with a record year for sales and footfall and more than a quarter (28%) of stores on-site breaking performance records in FY24/25,” we’re told.

Tim Treadwell, head of retail portfolio at Landsec, said: “We continue to see strong demand from leading brands looking for premium environments to grow their outlet offerings.”

That’s perhaps unsurprising given the polarisation in UK retail with certain destinations/supermalls outperforming while those with less unique appeal struggle to attract both brands and shoppers.

Gunwharf Quays has a number of built in advantages aside from being run by one of the country’s key retail property specialists. It’s in a historic, waterfront location with a good selection of premium stores (Russell & Bromley is among its latest arrivals), and plenty of leisure activities, including a cinema and bowling.

Interestingly too, earlier this year, Landsec installed 1,287 solar panels throughout Gunwharf Quays, one of the largest arrays of solar across UK shopping centres. These generate more than 500,000 kWh annually and reduce the destination’s carbon emissions by 115 tonnes, the equivalent of planting 5,400 trees.

After two elections, a cancelled ballot, and an interim government leadership in 2024, the Bangladesh Federation of Apparel Manufacturers and Exporters has finally chosen a new president. Mahmud Hasan Khan, head of the manufacturer Rising Group, takes the helm at a tense time for the industry.

This election marks the end of a complex period for the federation, which has been without an elected president for almost a year. In April 2024, industrialist SM Mannan Kochi was elected president. However, he finally withdrew for medical reasons during the summer, triggering a new election in August which crowned Khandoker Rafiqul Islam.

However, the election was finally annulled and the BGMEA leadership dissolved by government decision in October. Accusations of fraud were reported in the local press, while dialogue seemed to have broken down between the board and members. The Ministry of Commerce appointed Anwar Hossain, then deputy director of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), as interim director before “free and fair” elections.

Hasan Khan’s election comes at a delicate time for the Bangladeshi textile industry. The country is threatened by Washington with an additional 37% customs tax, on top of the 10% already applied to all supplier countries. As reported by FashionNetwork.com, Bangladesh is currently negotiating with the Trump administration to reduce these taxes. In particular, the textile industry hopes to circumvent the protectionist measures by using US-grown cotton in its production.

But there are other challenges in store for this term. The next elections are due to be held in April, which is likely to exacerbate the already highly conflictual social situation in the country. The country is facing rapid inflation, rising interest rates, and a sharp depreciation of the taka against the dollar, the currency in which most exports are traded.

The industry is counting on the completion by 2029 of the country’s first deep-water port, which will eliminate the need for Bangladeshi textile exports to transit through Colombo, in neighboring Sri Lanka, to be loaded onto ships bound for Europe or the United States.

The textile sector generates 80% of the country’s exports and 20% of its GDP, not to mention four million direct jobs. Thanks to its low wages, Bangladesh has become the European Union’s second-largest supplier and the United States’ fourth-largest supplier of textiles and clothing.