Fat Face names Oasis and Warehouse chief as new CEO

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Oct 17, 2018

News this week that Oasis and Warehouse CEO Liz Evans is to quit next year (she’s being replaced by current COO Hash Ladha) has been followed up with the announcement of her next destination. She’s to be the new CEO of retail peer Fat Face.

She’ll join the company in 2019 after a decade spent with her previous company, replacing the outgoing Anthony Thompson. He’s due to leave Fat Face in January, having also spent almost a decade at that firm.

Evans has a strong track record and has navigated some choppy waters, first in her role as MD of Oasis and then as group CEO of that brand and sister chain Warehouse. She’s been credited with “reinvigorating” the latter with both brands having seen challenging times.

In fact, they were up for sale last year and at one point were in the sights of turnaround firms with fears that there could be large numbers of store closures.

At Fat Face, Evans will lead a company that has been more consistently successful but which is quite different in its profile from her previous job. The womenswear/trend-driven focus of Oasis and Warehouse will be replaced by a Fat Face operation with a more casual, family-oriented profile and that also takes in men’s and kidswear plus lifestyle.

She also joins at a time when Fat Face is boosting its online operations and looking to boost its business internationally with its previous focus having mainly been its domestic market and the US.