UK clothing, food and home retailer Marks & Spencer has appointed former Miss Selfridge buyer Alex Dimitriu as head of purchasing for menswear.
Dimitriu was head of buying for M&S for three years, from 2013-2016, before spending a year and a half at New Look where she held the roles of buying, merchandising and design director, and then womenswear director, according to LinkedIn.
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Most recently, she served as buying and design director for teen fashion retailer Miss Selfridge – a role she held for two years.
Wes Taylor, director of menswear at M&S said of the appointment: “M&S is changing and we’re pleased that the scale and pace of our transformation is attracting both new and returning talent to M&S. Alex is a brilliant buyer and brings with her a great sense of style and strong leadership skills. Working closely with Karen Hall who joined us last year as head of design and the wider menswear management team she will help drive our strategy for M&S menswear.”
The appointment of Dimitriu is one of a number made by the retailer in the last week as it ploughs on in its quest to return the business to a stable footing.
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Just this week, M&S named Eoin Tonge, former finance boss at Greencore Group, as its new chief financial officer. Katie Bickerstaffe was appointed last week as chief strategy and transformation director.
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By GlobalDataM&S has struggled in recent months to grow sales in its clothing and home division and CEO Steve Rowe has been vocal about needing to move faster to address “long-standing issues” in its clothing supply chain around the availability and flow of product.
In its recent third-quarter update, clothing and home sales fell 3.7% to GBP1.06bn (US$1.38bn) and 1.7% on a like-for-like basis.
The company has been trying to reinvent itself for more than a decade, with the current five-year “restoring the basics” turnaround plan seeing more than 100 store closures by 2022, and a focus on better planning and stock visibility, removing outdated product lines, improving logistics, and upgrading its online visibility.
