ZD Executive Search

A Chairperson for…

A growing British streetwear brand
Salary band: £1.25m-£1.5m (pro rata)

The brand. The role.

This founder-led British streetwear brand was already turning over £40m per year. But with further growth planned, including internationally, our client needed a chairperson who could help them navigate the journey from challenger brand to market leader.

Why Zachary Daniels?

• We were already helping the brand appoint for a number of senior operational positions.
• We’d already built a trusted relationship.
• So when the conversation turned to finding someone who could bring the expertise and guidance to help the business through the next stage of growth, the founders trusted our connections and recommendations.

From challenger brand to market leader

Our client’s founders had achieved enormous success by doing things their way. But they knew that to generate further growth – including overseas expansion – they would benefit from the insight and experience of someone who had ‘been there and done that’.

They wanted a mentor, a guide, a chair who would bring the global market experience they lacked. They instructed us to find them.

The perfect (compatible) candidate

Capability and experience were the basic prerequisites of our search. Yet just as important was compatibility. The new chair would be working with founders whose creative and business instincts had taken them this far. Yet they recognised they were now operating at a different scale and in unfamiliar territory.

The right candidate would complement the founders, adding their understanding of global market opportunities to their creative energy. It would be as much of a personal match as a business one. The founders needed to trust their new chair and share aligned values. The chair needed to enable the founders while guiding, mentoring and keeping things on track.

Recruitment consultants

Consultancy is at the heart of successful executive recruitment. When we first spoke to the founders about the new role, the plan was to bring in a head of operations. Yet a head of ops wouldn’t have brought the specific strategic difference the business needed.

We discussed the need to diversify their retail partnerships, to plan entry into new markets, and to develop new, nimble ways of reaching customers. Together, we explored the ROI of bringing in the right chairperson, and the benefits were clear.

And because they trusted our input, they knew that when we made our recommendation, we’d be recommending someone who would fit every criteria.

The breakthrough

The successful candidate (and the candidate we targeted from the outset) came from our network. A sports retail sector veteran, they were renowned in the industry, operating at the most senior levels and driving some of the sector’s most well-known brands. They knew the products and understood the technical aspects of streetwear fabrics. They understood the customers. They immediately ‘got’ the founders.

But what really sealed the deal was the advice they gave the founders at the interview. The founders were considering activating America as their next area of expansion. The candidate had been in that position previously. They were able to share their experiences and the pitfalls, and helped shape an alternative, lower-risk strategy that the business has since adopted with enormous success.

Very quickly, the founders realised the candidate wasn’t simply the best person for the role; they were the only person for the role.

Exec search with ZD works

Now almost two years in-post, the successful candidate has:

• Combined growth frameworks and strategies with the existing entrepreneurial agility of the business to accelerate growth.
• Led a hugely successful European expansion.
• Drove retail partner diversification.
• Took the brand’s turnover from £40m to £130m.

The ZD difference

The success of the candidate with this brand has become something of an open secret. So much so that, on the back of this success, clients have used it as a frame of reference, telling us, “Do what you did for BRAND NAME. We want the equivalent CANDIDATE NAME for our industry.”

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