British luxury heritage brand John Smedley is breaking tradition with its choice of a new managing director. With her background in the creative camp, Jess McGuire Dudley takes up the promotion to MD this month.
Previously deputy MD and global brand director, McGuire Dudley takes over from Smedley family member Ian Maclean. Having worked within the business for 25 years, he will now step into the executive chairman’s role.
McGuire Dudley, who joined the business in 2014 as head of marketing, has made “invaluable contributions to the business… giving John Smedley new relevance and increased presence within the luxury knitwear sphere”, it said on announcing her new post.
That included recently overseeing product projects and manufacturing overhauls while being “pivotal in transforming the marketing and sales side of the business in recent years” and refreshing the brand’s image and “the many ways it is visible in markets around the world”.
That has helped the business enjoy double-digit increases in global sales across e-commerce (80%) and its retail stores (6%), as well as growing its physical retail footprint with two standalone stores in London, it said.
Looking ahead, Dudley’s appointment also coincides with a “renewed focus on strategically future-proofing John Smedley, both in manufacturing and in product design”, it added.
“There is a real love between me and this business, and I am determined to ensure it thrives for decades to come,” she said.
She added: “The commercial landscape is a challenge for a UK based manufacturing brand; traditional wholesale and retail continue to be tough, and the future has a lot of uncertain challenges, from US tariffs to tax increases. But it is a challenge we are up for facing, and we have plenty of new ideas to maintain John Smedley as ‘The World’s Finest Knitwear’.”
