Belstaff gets its new CEO from Anya Hindmarch as Haig exits

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jan 12, 2018

Belstaff has named a new leadership team following its buyout last November by Ineos. Helen Wright is its new CEO and Robin Huston takes over as non-executive chairman.

Wright is an experienced exec who was most recently CEO of fellow British luxury brand Anya Hindmarch and has also worked in major roles at Karl Lagerfeld, LVMH’s Fendi and Ralph Lauren. 

While at Hindmarch, she drove through a key phase in its global expansion across multiple distribution channels, particularly ramping up its e-tail operations. 

And at Karl Lagerfeld as global VP retail, she “partnered with investors in a global rollout of the brand via a new retail store concept across key international fashion capitals.”

Both sets of experience will be crucial as she works to raise Belstaff’s game and drive through an expansion plan built both on its British heritage status and its trend-driven fashion profile.

Gavin Haig, the current CEO of Belstaff, will step down “by mutual consent with immediate effect.”

Robin Huston is currently CEO and Chairman of Lime Wood Group and Home Grown Hotels of which Jim Ratcliffe, the founder and CEO of Ineos, is a major shareholder. Huston is also a past chairman of Soho House Limited.

On announcing the management changes, he said the company “sees great potential to revitalise and grow the [Belstaff] business.” And he added that “there is enormous depth of talent and passion within the management team and the company’s longstanding and valued suppliers. We aim to support and empower this talent with the required level of investment over the years ahead.”

He also cited Wright’s 25-year-plus of luxury and lifestyle brand experience, while thanking Haig “for his dedication and commitment to Belstaff over the last four years in building a stronger brand and company.”

And in another change, Sarah Doukas will also join the Belstaff board. She is the founder of Storm Management, one of the world’s top model agencies, which she has managed for the last 30 years.