Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton announces his departure

Julian Dunkerton, co-founder of Superdry and one of fashion retail's most successful entrepreneurs, has announced his will be leaving the business at the end of this month.

Dunkerton's director responsibilities for product and brand will be absorbed into the creative teams as he steps away from the business after 15 years to focus on his other business interests and charitable endeavours.

"I am immensely proud of everything achieved at Superdry over the past fifteen years. As a fast-growing, innovative business, Superdry has always evolved to ensure it keeps delivering," Dunkerton said. "With other demands on my time it is the right point for me to transition my focus and responsibilities."

As his departure was announced, it was also revealed that Dunkerton, who holds around a 25% stake in the business, would be assigning ordinary shares up to the value of £1,157,486 by way of a personal donation to The Blue Marine Foundation, a UK registered charity that exists to protect our seas, by combating overfishing and the destruction of biodiversity with the creation of large scale marine reserves.

This is one of the charities that Dunkerton has been working with outside of his Superdry responsibilities. Chris Gorell Barnes, the co-founder of the foundation said: "We are so grateful to Julian Dunkerton for his generous and visionary support of the Blue Marine Foundation. This will enable us to roll out our model of sustainable fishing which both revives marine life and means that fishermen can earn more for fishing less. We are hugely excited at being given this opportunity to transform the future of UK fishing. His ongoing commitment to our charity is hugely valued."

Dunkerton's entrepreneurial journey began in 1985 when he established clothing retailer Cult Clothing. In 2003 he joined forces with James Holder who had previously founded the Bench brand, to develop and create a new in-house brand, called Superdry.

Its fusion of UK streetwear aesthetic and Japanese graphics proved popular and by 2004 the pair decided to start open the first standalone Superdry store. An expansion into international wholesale followed and by 2010 Superdry had floated on the London Stock Exchange. 

Superdry Regent Street flagship

In 2011 its flagship store on London's Regent Street was opened and a year later all Cult Clothing stores were rebranded as Superdry. Dunketon handed over the CEO reins to Euan Sutherland in 2014, and the business has continued to enjoy strong growth under the former Co-op boss. Today, via its owned stores and websites and via its network of franchises, licenses and concessions, Superdry is sold to 189 countries.

Chairman Peter Bamford said he had been discussing the Dunkerton's planned departure with him for a while. "With Superdry embarking on the next phase of its ambitious growth plans, and with other interests and opportunities available to him, Julian and I have been talking for some time about the right time for him to move on from the business. I have enjoyed working closely with him over the last eight years and, on behalf of the Board, I would like to thank Julian for his outstanding contribution in building Superdry into such a great brand," he said.