Myer boss Olivia Wirth strengthens her hold after being appointed to boards of Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence

Already with unprecedented executive power at Myer, its boss and executive chairman Olivia Wirth has become a director of the retailer’s wholly owned fashion labels.

Myer boss Olivia Wirth, who already enjoys unprecedented power at the department store owner in her role of executive chairman, has further strengthened her oversight of the retailer’s operations after being made a director of its wholly owned fashion brands.

Ms Wirth now sits on the boards of Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence.

Of the three, Sass & Bide has a strong international presence and the highest profile, but the smallest revenue.

The three brands were expected to be sold by Myer earlier this year, with the help of external adviser KPMG.

However, the potential sale was abandoned when in June Ms Wirth – a few weeks into her role at Myer – announced a blockbuster proposal to buy a portfolio of apparel brands from Solomon Lew’s Premier Investments.

Negotiations with Mr Lew’s Premier Investments are continuing. Myer is conducting a review of its own operations, and announced last month it had decided to retain ownership of its current brand portfolio.

Now, according to fresh documents filed with ASIC, Ms Wirth, the former loyalty boss at Qantas who jumped ship to Myer on June 4, has been appointed a director of Sass & Bide, founded by fashion designers Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton, as well as Marcs and David Lawrence.

Myer executive chairman Olivia Wirth at the Sydney store. Picture: John Feder

Former Myer boss John King stepped down from these boardroom responsibilities at the start of June, and former Myer chief financial officer Nigel Chadwick also left the boards.

Ms Wirth has been joined on the fashion label boards by her new chief financial officer, Matthew Jackman. A Myer spokesman said: “It is normal practice for the Myer CEO to be a director of the Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence subsidiary companies, with Olivia looking forward to growing these brands in the Australian market.”

Sass & Bide has had a troubled ownership under Myer, with the label never fully reaching its potential after being bought from its founders and other investors, and suffering high turnover of directors and management. 

Myer bought a 65 per cent stake in Sass & Bide in 2011 for $42.25m under the then-Myer boss Bernie Brookes.

The purchase was particularly stinging for arch rival David Jones, as Sass & Bide was one of its founding brands and a star ­performer for the department store.

In 2009-10 Sass & Bide had sales of $37m.

Between 2011 and 2013 Sass & Bide is estimated to have boosted sales by 45 per cent and profit by 112 per cent.

Later, Myer bought the remaining 35 per cent of Sass & Bide for just over $30m, but its two designers – Ms Clarke and Ms Middleton – subsequently left the business and the fashion label’s performance suffered greatly, hurt also by poorer retail trading conditions.

In 2017, Myer was forced to book an impairment of $38.8m against the Sass & Bide ­investment.

Heidi Middleton, left, and Sarah Jane Clarke, right, are pictured with a model wearing an embellished top and skirt, as they prepare for New York Fashion Week. Picture: Ramson Stuart

It is believed Sass & Bide generates annual revenue of around $28m, Marcs has $52m of annual revenue and David Lawrence $37m. This is small compared to Myer’s annual revenue of around $3bn.

But now that Myer is under new leadership, with Ms Wirth looking to vastly expand the business’s exposure to external fashion labels, there is a growing belief within the Myer boardroom that it makes sense to retain ownership of Sass & Bide, Marcs and David Lawrence – especially if the deal with Mr Lew is sealed.

In June Ms Wirth, the first executive chairman of Myer in 15 years, revealed her plan to merge with the clothing business owned by Mr Lew’s Premier Investments, which would create a $4bn-revenue retail giant.

Mr Lew owns 42.43 per cent of Premier Investments, with the publicly listed company also Myer’s largest shareholder with a stake of 31.37 per cent.

Premier Investments’ Apparel Brands arm, which operates 717 stores nationally across the Just Jeans, Jay Jays, Portmans, Jacqui E, and Dotti brands, would greatly expand the stores operated by Myer, but also give it the opportunity to push its highly successful loyalty program Myer One into those brands for the first time.