M&S menswear enters new era as Mitch Hughes takes director role

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Dec 14, 2022

M&S has named a new director of menswear, replacing Wes Taylor who’s retiring from the business, with ex-Dorothy Perkins, Burton and Wallis MD Mitch Hughes stepping into the role.

The change comes at a crucial time for the business as years of work in its Clothing & Home operations yield real results, although the recovery remains a potentially fragile one given the weak consumer backdrop at present.

Hughes exited Boohoo Group back in October as the parent company consolidated the various acquired brands in its business, including the ex-Arcadia labels that he ran. 

He’d joined Boohoo when the clutch of former Arcadia brands were sold to the fashion e-tail giant, although he hadn’t been directly involved with them previously. Instead, he’d been MD at Topman when it was still under the Arcadia umbrella, but which was sold to ASOS along with Topshop at the same time as the other labels joined Boohoo. 

M&S’s new menswear chief had also previously held senior posts at Burton and Matalan and he had an eight-year stint as a buyer for his new employer between 1997 and 2005.

Despite having worked solely online in recent years, he also has extensive physical retail experience, with both being relevant to M&S as it consolidates and improves its physical stores while growing its e-commerce operation.

Hughes said he’s “hugely excited” to be rejoining the business, especially given the transformation that has been seen in its Clothing & Home operations in recent years. 

His predecessor Wes Taylor had also been in charge of kidswear and this part of his portfolio will be taken over by Alex Dimitriu who has been promoted from Head of Buying for Menswear to Director of Kidswear as of February.

Hughes and Dimitriu join a category director team that includes Maddy Evans for womenswear, Laura Charle for lingerie and Heidi Woodhouse for home.

Taylor, who the company said played a “pivotal role” in reshaping M&S’s product offer, has an impressive track record aside from his four years at the retail giant. He was previously long-term MD of Burton and also worked for Kangol and River Island.