Superdry is a UK branded clothing company known for its combination of vintage Americana styling with Japanese inspired graphics. Having opened its first store in 2004, it was floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2010, and since then has been on a journey to become a global digital lifestyle brand.
The group’s refined mission from 2021 is “to be the #1 sustainable style destination”.
By the end of 2021, Superdry had 220 company-owned physical stores and around 475 franchisees and licensees in more than 50 countries across the world. Future growth will have more of a bias towards ecommerce and wholesale, which provide flexible, low-capital routes to market.
Underlining its commitment to ecommerce, the retailer has recently replatformed all of its sites onto microservices technology.
Other major technology overhauls in recent years have included revamping its supply chain to give it a single flexible pool of inventory that can be used by all channels. It has invested in overseas distribution centres and warehouse automation as part of these plans.
A transformation plan focused on “re-energising product” and “evolving the brand” has been underway since 2018 and intensified more recently. Julian Dunkerton, who returned as chief executive in 2019 following a turbulent business performance, has refocused the business around improving its marketing and social media capabilities, as well as developing product and omnichannel fulfilment.
