One of the first things Jane Shepherdson will do at the start of her tenure at Whistles will be to bring her ethical nous to the table.
Since her departure from Topshop in late 2006, she has famously lambasted the ethics of value retailers and has reportedly said that it is “vulgar” for rich people to buy cheap clothes. She has held just two roles in the past year, as a consultant for charity Oxfam and non-executive director of ethical fashion retailer People Tree.
Just as she sensed the route to reinvigorating a stumbling Topshop in the 1980s and 1990s, you can bank on Shepherdson to have identified the next trend. Most major high street fashion retailers have made green gestures by introducing ethical ranges in stores and many shoppers, in a moment of guilt, have bought an eco-garment only to stuff it to the back of the wardrobe for its lack of fashionability. Shepherdson won’t be the first retailer to cotton on to the market for organic cotton or sweat over the ethics of sweatshops, but you can place money on her forging a path for wearable and desirable fashion with an ethical stamp of approval.
If she can create a green high street fashion retailer that is given the thumbs-up by fashionistas, then she could change attitudes towards ethical retailing. Shepherdson is confident that there is a neglected woman, in her late twenties and older, who has been left cold by the throwaway consumerism of cheap clothes, yet also left out in the cold by the rising prices of top-end brands.
But, even so, will people spend£100 on a classic organic cotton white shirt when they cannot afford the rising prices of food?
Whether Whistles’ transformation will stumble at the starting block because of external factors beyond its chief’s control remains to be seen, but what is certain is that Shepherdson has probably been thrown in at the deep end this week.
Yet she is likely to relish the challenges that heading a small fashion chain will bring versus those of her Topshop days. After her controversial departure from Sir Philip Green’s jewel in the Arcadia crown, amid rumours – denied by both parties – of rancour over Green asking Kate Moss to collaborate with the retailer – she has partnered with the UK’s other heavy-hitting fashion powerhouse. And what Baugur can offer in the way of silent support is second to none.
This will allow Shepherdson to get on with the task of transforming Whistles. She wants to introduce more casualwear at the retailer and launch designer collaborations. Not that this is likely to involve Moss – the one thing we can be pretty sure Shepherdson will not be doing during her tenure. The rest is open and stands to change the face of the sector.
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