The boss of Boden has promised to revamp the business after admitting to a “catalogue of mistakes” that pushed the fashion retailer to a significant loss.
Johnnie Boden told The Times he was a “complete nitwit” for making the brand too trendy and neglecting its core customer base.
The overhaul, which will coincide with its upcoming Autumn/Winter 23 collection, will see the fashion retailer revive its famous catalogue and axe its struggling menswear division.
Boden will also send apologetic emails to customers that use phrases such as: “Sorry, I’m a complete nitwit. I effed up.”
Subscribe to Retail Gazette for free
Sign up here to get the latest news straight into your inbox each morning
It comes after the fashion retailer plunged to a £4.4m loss last year, compared to a profit of £22m in 2021.
Sales slipped 2% to £350m in the period, with customer numbers also down 5% to 1.8 million.
Bolden told the publication: “We forgot who we were. We changed the product too much. We went a bit too young and we upset lots of customers.
“We had less colour, we had shorter silhouettes and we had the sorts of products that were on trend, which is not very us.”
He admitted that cutting back on the retailer’s much-loved catalogue had also been a fatal error: “We knew we had to cut back distribution because digital was the future, but we cut back too much.”
Boden said he was “pretty confident” the retailer will get back on its feet: “These things happen.
“You look at Apple — that almost went bust. James Dyson and his electric car, that didn’t work . . . Gucci was once on its knees.
“I’ve made a ton of mistakes throughout my career and managed to overcome them.”
Click here to sign up to Retail Gazette‘s free daily email newsletter
