Opinion: Is Dunkerton’s passion enough to turn Superdry around?

Julian Dunkerton 2019

He might “bleed orange” – but is passion enough to make Superdry’s interim boss Julian Dunkerton the man to return the fashion retailer to rude health?

Speaking at Superdry’s annual results media briefing, founder Dunkerton brandishes a shapeless rust-coloured jacket, which he’s has plucked from a rack of women’s coats designed under the retailer’s previous management.

“I had to come back because [the brand] was being pointed in the wrong way,” he says, comparing the rack to one on the other side of the room, filled with sleeker, dark-coloured, premium-looking product designed since he returned to the helm in April.

Superdry’s full-year results made for painful, albeit not surprising reading, as the retailer swung to an £85.4m statutory pre-tax loss, against a £65.3m profit the previous year, while sales were flat at £871.1m.

 

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