Sophie Rycroft has been with Boohoo Group since 2013 and initially joined the company as a buyer after six years at Arcadia. Before she was appointed Rycroft was the group head of sourcing and ethical trade.
John Lyttle, Boohoo Group CEO said: “We are very pleased that Sophie has become our group director of responsible sourcing. She is an expert in her field, with longstanding relationships with our manufacturers, and has a track record of driving positive change across our supply chain.”
Rycroft’s appointment is part of a planned succession strategy, from Andrew Reaney. Lyttle added: “Sophie’s appointment comes at a time when we continue to invest in and grow our responsible sourcing function, and I look forward to working with her as we drive further progress.”
In a parallel development, Boohoo has launched "The Boohoo Collective," a social commerce initiative that integrates thousands of creators into the shopping experience on boohoo.com.
The company expects this new programme to significantly boost the value of social traffic to its website by directly connecting social media content with Boohoo products, creating a more personalised customer journey.
Stephanie Riddell, Boohoo's senior influencer & PR manager said: “We truly believe in the potential and opportunity of this model, and believe that this social-led, personalised approach is the future of fashion eCommerce.”
In May, the online retailer decided against paying its directors £1m ($1.27m) in bonuses after following its lacklustre FY24 results. Its executive directors “opted to waive their entire bonus entitlement,” for the financial year ended 29 February 2024.
The executive directors which include co-founders Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane as well as current CEO Lyttle were due to receive a £1m bonus – 70% of which was to be paid in shares and the remaining £300,000 in cash.
Despite missing targets on sales, profits, cash flow, delivery on ESG targets, supply chain milestones and delivery of an IT project, Boohoo’s remuneration committee felt the “formulaic outcome” of the annual bonus calculator was “not an accurate reflection of the excellent work carried out during the year to set the business up for future success”.
