Myer boss Umbers joins board of cutting-edge label Sass & Bide

NEW Myer boss Richard Umbers has joined the board of women’s clothing label Sass & Bide.

Myer CEO quits

NEW Myer boss Richard Umbers has joined the board of women’s clothing label Sass & Bide, giving the former Australia Post executive crucial oversight of one of the nation’s leading cutting-edge fashion houses as he grapples with the department store business and the wider fashion industry.

Former Myer boss Bernie Brookes has stepped down from the Sass & Bide board, as well as a number of Myer internal companies, as part of the transition to the recently appointed Mr Umbers.

Myer, the nation’s biggest department store, first bought a 65 per cent stake in Sass & Bide in February 2011 for $42.3 million, later snapping up the remaining 35 per cent for about $30m.

In November 2013, the co-founders of Sass & Bide, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton, resigned as directors of the business empire they created 14 years ago as Myer tightened its grip on the label. Ms Clarke and Ms Middleton left the fashion house in 2014.

Sass & Bide, which rapidly grew to a stalwart of the global catwalk, has been one of Myer’s best-performing divisions, delivering a consistently strong result for investors, recently lifting annual sales by 45 per cent and profit by 112 per cent.

eli greenblat