INTERVIEW | Jane Shepherdson CBE, Retail Industry Expert, ex-CEO of Whistles + ex-Brand Director of Topshop
on life as the No. 1 Topshop girl, why creative people (not financial people) should be running a fashion business and why Philip Green is ‘a monster’.
I am so unbelievably excited to share this interview with you. After writing my article on how my first job as a Topshop Girl taught me more about the world of work than any other job has since, it got shared around on LinkedIn by thousands of other Topshop girls until it eventually reached the biggest Topshop girl of them all: Jane Shepherdson – the woman responsible for building the Topshop we all knew and loved.
In case you don’t know her, Jane Shepherdson is an English businesswoman. She’s currently a director of The London Fashion Fund (which supports responsible fashion startups), the Chair of MyWardrobeHQ (a luxury fashion rental platform), and a trustee of Smartworks (a charity that uses fashion as a force for good and gets women back into work). She’s a busy, impressive lady.
Before all of this, Jane was best known as the brains behind the reinvention and resurgence of Topshop and Whistles. She was the Brand Director of Topshop from 1998-2007, the creative advisor for Oxfam from 2007-2015, and the CEO of Whistles from 2008-2016. Unsurprisingly, Jane was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2015 for her services to UK retail business.
After Whistles, Jane took a year out, went on a road trip of the west coast of the US, and came back to the UK ready to try to make amends for her life spent making clothes that were more compelling, but also contributed to the climate crisis. Responsible fashion is now her main focus.
After reading my Topshop girl article, Jane very generously agreed to talk to me about her life as the No. 1 Topshop girl (aka, the brand’s Brand Director), why she believes creative people (not financial people) should be running a fashion business and why Philip Green is ‘a monster’.
Q: What does a snapshot of your life look like right now?
I am currently a director of The London Fashion Fund, which supports environmentally responsible fashion start ups. I’m also the chair of MyWardrobeHQ, which is a luxury fashion rental service, and a trustee and volunteer of Smartworks, a charity that uses fashion as a force for good and gets women back into work. I’m on the advisory board of the British School of Fashion, too. At the moment, I’m also doing some printmaking courses, after doing an art foundation course last year.
A regular week sees me volunteering at Smartworks on a Monday, mostly printmaking on a Wednesday and then in between that, I’ll be having various real-life meetings, Zoom meetings, I’ll be meeting people for coffee, mentoring and just generally trying to raise the profile of sustainable fashion.
Q: When you were younger, what did you want to be when you ‘grew up’?
From the age of eight or so, I definitely knew I did not want to be an academic like both of my parents were! I knew I wanted to be in fashion in some way, but I knew I wasn’t creative enough to be a designer.
Q: Tell us about your first job. Where did you work, how did you get that job and what did you learn?
I had various holiday jobs, but my first real job was as an allocator at Topshop. I was paid £5000 a year, and I had a job in a pub in the evenings to make sure I could afford to pay my rent. All I literally did was send stock out of the warehouse to the stores on a computerised form. I learned what each store sold around the country, and I watched the buying teams and found out what they did. I worked my way up through the business from that job as my starting point, so eventually when I became Brand Director, I knew the business inside out!
Q: Tell us about your worst ever job. Why did you hate it? What made it so bad? What did you do about it?
See above! That job was monotonous, badly paid and was at the bottom rung of the ladder. I made sure I got promoted in six months to Assistant Buyer. I don’t think it happens that quickly now, but I was very much in the right place at the right time…
Q: In a world where nepotism and status-schools are often the key to success, you managed to work your way up to several ‘jobs a million girls would kill for’ (to quote the Devil Wears Prada) without preferential treatment or having attended a fashion college. For many of us Topshop Girls on the shop floor, you were this beacon of light – having worked your way up to the dream job of Brand Director from the bottom yourself. How did you get to where you are today?
I didn’t actually start at Topshop on the shop floor myself, I started in the buying office – albeit in a very junior position. I had worked the shop floor of Selfridges when I was a student in London, so I knew retail from both sides. I spent a lot of time on the shop floor throughout my time at both Topshop and Whistles, as thats where I got so much information both from the staff and the customers, and I wanted to experience what our customers experienced.
When I started at Topshop, I had a degree in Business Studies (though not a good one!). I’m not sure there were any real vocational courses around then, and I’d misspent most of my college days clubbing and recovering in a London that was full of promise and excitement for a girl from Bristol.
In all honestly, I was just lucky. Topshop were hiring, I was very keen and they took a punt on me. After that, I felt very strongly that the men in suits running the business did not know as much as I did about what women wanted to wear, so I had to take over!
Q: During your time as Brand Director of Topshop, you were credited with essentially transforming the brand from a much-loved high street store into a key player in the fashion world – to the point where it became a key part of the London Fashion Week catwalk schedule and launched the careers of many emerging British designers. I can tell you that even as a 16 year old Saturday Girl working in one of the smallest stores in the UK (Bridgend, South Wales) your creativity and instinct for what women wanted was felt. What can you tell us about how you approached the role of Brand Director on behalf of Topshop girls everywhere?
We just wanted Topshop to be the most exciting place to go, to have the best designed clothes, to be a real alternative to designer brands and much cooler…
We built a team of the most talented creatives that we could find, who also bought into our vision. They were incredible marketeers, designers, buyers, and retailers. We also used world famous photographers and had a Vogue art director styling our shoots.
We wanted to show the world that we were original and didn’t copy the designers, so we got ourselves onto the catwalk schedule. Then we wanted to support and nurture the early careers of other up and coming designers too who, in return, designed collections for us.
We approached everything from the point of view of our customer – would she love it or not? We did not think about profit and margins, because we didn’t have to – everyone loved it! Boy have things changed now though… It was such a special time. We all LOVED Topshop and we did absolutely everything we could to make it better.
Q: The loss of Topshop on our high streets has left a huge hole on our high streets (quite literally, in many cases of yet-to-be-filled retail spaces) and a huge hole in the shopping experience. How do you feel about the future of the high street, and do you think there’s hope for it to ever return to its previous glory?
It’s such a shame isn’t it? There is nowhere now for people to meet their friends and hang out amongst fabulous clothes. I’m sure the high street will reinvent itself eventually, as there are so many people trying to make it happen. But e-commerce is so prevalent that it’s really hard to see it succeeding again. Even the people who say they want shops now shop online as it’s just more convenient.
Q: When you became the Brand Director of Topshop, the company was turning over an annual profit of £9 million. Under your lead, by 2005 the brand was making over £100 million a year. Why do you feel the role of Brand Director is so important to a business’ success? Is there anything you wish people understood about this role that you currently don’t think they do?
I think it is really important to have a creative person running a fashion business instead of a financial person. It totally changes all the decisions that get made. A creative needs a strong financial person behind them, but the ideas and innovations themselves must be creative. I feel that very strongly. And yet, I can’t think of a single fashion business run by a creative…
Q: You left Topshop in 2006. How did you get to the point where this felt like the right decision for you?
I couldn’t stand working with Philip Green anymore. He was a monster. I had managed to keep Topshop out of his control for years, but I could see that as the other brands in Arcadia gradually died, he wanted to get into our brand. I can’t stand bullies, or very rich men really, so it was time to go. It was such a wrench, as it felt like family to me.
Q: You then took on the task of making Whistles exciting and relevant again as a co-owner, nurturing it into yet another one of the high street’s most well-loved brands. What were the challenges you faced when you took on this role?
We were a small team and we had all been used to the enormous support team at Topshop, so we very quickly realised that we had to do so many things ourselves! We had to build both credibility as well as recreating the ranges, we had the advantage of being known from Topshop, but also the high expectation that it would happen quickly. Also, in autumn 2008 in the global financial crisis, we lost all of our backing… So we had to refinance before we had proved ourselves!
Q: You have been described in press in the past as ‘astonishingly shy’. Would you describe yourself in the same way?
I’m not sure where that quote came from, but I don’t think that anyone who knows me would recognise it! I was a shy child, but I have now become pretty confident in most situations – in fact, public speaking is something that I really enjoy doing. Until I became confident through success, I would pretend that I was confident anyway, which after a while eventually became the truth. I still suffer from imposter syndrome when I’m put in a position out of my comfort zone though.
Q: What’s the biggest mistake you’ve ever made at work?
We bought into collections that failed, but that’s par for the course. You only really learn from failure.
Q: Is there anything you wish you’d done differently over your career?
I should have recognised the damage that fashion was doing to the planet years ago, but no one really did for so long.
Q: Beyoncé was once asked what she loved most about London and she replied, ‘Topshop’. Are there any accessible, British fashion brands that you’re excited about now that you feel could emulate the iconic status that Topshop held?
Sadly not…
Q: Is there one piece of Topshop clothing that you’ll never, ever donate or throw away?
I’ve got a jumpsuit from the 90s that will go to the grave with me!
Q: What’s the biggest hurdle you’ve ever had to get over?
Keeping my extremely talented Topshop team as far away as possible from Philip Green. He ruined everything he touched and I couldn’t let him do that to Topshop.
Q: What’s a recent hurdle (big or small!) you’ve had to get over?
Someone just hacked my Instagram account! They set up another account and used all my photos! I’ve done what I can, but Instagram are notorious for not taking down fake accounts.
QUICKFIRE
Q: One work-related object you can’t live without?
My Mac
Q: Best advice you’ve ever been given?
Always employ people who are much more talented than you are.
Q: Worst advice you’ve ever been given?
Just wait, things will change.
Q: Your dream brand to take hold of and transform?
I don’t dream of that any more. I’m more keen on finding ways of changing behaviour to clothing rental… Beyond Retro is a cool brand though.
Q: The person you admire the most?
Greta Thunberg.
Q: Ever faked being sick to get off work?
No!
Q: Any last words?
Thanks for loving Topshop like I did.
