Ex-Topshop exec Shepherdson named chair of fashion rental business

The new role is a first for Shepherdson, a former executive with Topshop and chief executive of and part-owner of Whistles, since she left the latter in 2016.

She told the Financial Times her period away from the fashion industry had increased her interest in alternative business models and environmental issues.

“I’ve seen so many documentaries about how fast fashion is killing the planet. I’ve visited a lot of supposedly sustainable brands. But a lot of them are not really sustainable. They’re just adding to the pile,” she said.

My Wardrobe HQ was founded by Sacha Newall and former Monsoon fashion buyer Tina Lake and launched this autumn.

It is one of a group of new, UK-based fashion rental start-ups including the Hurr Collective and By Rotation inspired by the success of New York-based rental service Rent the Runway.

The start-up cleans, stores and ships the loaned garments itself and its collection of clothes, which rent for around a tenth of the retail selling price, are loaned by a mixture of individual members and brands.

Stephenson, who left Topshop in 2006, said she had made a “small but significant” investment in the business. She said she had been “working on something similar” but found that Newall and Lake were “a lot further down the line” and praised My Wardrobe HQ for its “amazing logistics”.