‘I’m just getting going,” says Jo Jenkins, the 55-year-old boss of casual clothing brand White Stuff. Founded by two ski bums selling T-shirts door-to-door in the Alps, it has grown up with its customers and is now a supplier of floral tunics, utility jackets and other everyday staples to mums and dads.
Jenkins, a polished retail industry veteran, was poached from Marks & Spencer in 2017 to help get White Stuff back on piste. Known for its colourful prints and comfy fits, the retailer had slumped to a loss amid the rise of online shopping and some fashion faux pas.
Since joining, she has steered the company through some big storms. It survived the pandemic, while rivals Joules, FatFace and Cath Kidston faced financial difficulties, and returned to profitability in 2022, becoming a hit with Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and Next shoppers. All three high street giants have adopted a department store model online, with websites selling their own and other brands, and White Stuff is in each of their virtual storefronts.
On the bricks-and-mortar high street, it has 114 shops and 46 concessions in the UK and 28 shops and concessions in Germany as well as 575 wholesale stockists worldwide.
There have been rumours that founders George Treves and Sean Thomas are considering selling up as the brand expands.
There are plans for up to 30 more standalone stores over five years, while the number of M&S outlets in which the brand is sold is doubling to 20. Jenkins also wants to expand the accessories, footwear and men’s ranges.
The deal with M&S brings Jenkins full circle back to the company where she started as a “Saturday girl”, and then a management trainee straight from A-levels, before returning many years later, after a long stint at Next, to become beauty and clothing director.
By teaming up with bigger names, White Stuff believes it has found a way to connect with its core fiftysomething customer. It’s a demographic that is underserved by retailers, despite being one of the few spending more on fashion in these straitened times.