Debenhams names new womenswear director

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Nov 15, 2017

Debenhams has hired Sara Bradley, who was most recently brand director at BHS International, as its new head of womenswear.

Bradley joined the British department store on Monday and will report directly to CEO Sergio Bucher.

Her appointment comes after the departure of long-time trading director Suzanne Harlow and the creation of a new Fashion & Home unit as part of a management reshuffle.

Commenting on her new role, she said:  “I’m really excited to be joining Debenhams because it’s a great British brand with a strong heritage and I believe this is a fantastic opportunity to be part of the team at a time of change with the Debenhams Redesigned strategy.”

Bradley has previously held several fashion roles at some of the UK’s largest retail brands, including head of buying at Marks & Spencer, clothing director at Sainsbury’s, womenswear head at George at Asda and buying director at Arcadia Group.

Debenhams is looking to revive the department store concept by making shopping sociable and fun. The turnaround plan has seen Debenhams’ in-house Designers at Debenhams portfolio shaken up and its clothing offer improved, however the retailer continues to struggle amid an uncertain trading environment.

In October, the company announced a 44% slide in pre-tax profit for the year to September 2, while sales rose 2% to £2.95 billion. While like-for-like sales in the UK were flat, CEO Sergio Burcher said the business is “making progress”.