Advisory Board

HALEY SHORE

Hayley is a branding design director and travel-fuelled creative with experience across packaging, social and digital, print media, campaign, experiential and fashion design. Starting from a Bachelor’s degree in packaging design at FIT, her experience was shaped in the NYC branding agency world, further expanding with international experience growing the Design and Innovation function of PepsiCo across NYC, Dublin and London.

LAURETTA ROBERTS

Lauretta Roberts is Co-founder, Editor-in-Chief and CEO of TheIndustry.fashion, having acquired the business along with business partner Antony Hawman in July 2015, using acquisition vehicle Magnus Media & Events Ltd. Prior to the acquisition she was a long-standing member of The Industry’s advisory board. Until recently Lauretta was also director of brand & propositions at the world's leading trend forecaster WGSN, where she had worked since 2009, founding initiatives such as WGSN Futures and the Global Fashion Awards. Prior to that, she was editor of Drapers where she worked with Antony.

MELISSA CRAFT

NICOLA KIRBY

Nicola is a proven retail leader, having built product teams for some of the UK High Street’s biggest brands and most exciting small independent labels in fashion, furniture and homeware.

From her training in Leeds and UMIST in textile technology and design, and ambition to drive change, Nicola moved to Sri Lanka to set up and run a garment factory. From this first hands-on experience, she has since led successful teams across Europe and Asia that have created bestsellers for brands like Next and John Lewis.

Nicola excels at finding and building strong relationships with suppliers, continually improving the profitability, quality and sustainability in the proposition. She is adept at securing production in the most innovative factories and finding the most efficient and effective routes for products to market, balancing risk and return to ensure commercial success.

Consistently, Nicola builds empowered, outcome-focussed teams who have a passion for product. Sustainability and continual improvement are integral to her approach and she is always learning how to keep what she does at the forefront of the industry she loves. Recognising her commitment to Net Zero, Nicola recently represented John Lewis at a 10 Downing St. event to foster closer collaboration with UK manufacturers.

When not at work Nicola continues to pursue her passion for art and design and is an active supporter of the ballet world. She loves a challenge — whether renovating houses or running a marathon, she is always striving to push the bounds.

SIMON PLATTS

Simon Platts set up Simon Platts Consulting in March 2023, an independent consultancy focused on supporting retailers, educators, and the fashion industry at large to deliver better ways of buying and sourcing to improve quality, profitability, agility, and proposition, reduce negative impacts on people and planet, and deliver on environmental, social, and legal commitments.

Simon has also recently taken the role of CEO Co-Founder of Recomme, a company focused on supplying tools and support to retailers and brands that enable the recovery of old items of clothing and footwear, and send them off for upcycling, recycling, and turning into new products.

Up until March 2023 Simon was with ASOS.com for 10 years. In his role as Responsible Sourcing and Commercial ESG Director, Simon oversaw the company’s own-brand sourcing, packaging, ethical trade, product sustainability programme and 3rd-party branded engagement functions. He also led the team which developed and delivered ASOS’ ‘Fashion with Integrity’ initiative.

Simon started out in fashion as a teenager, and as of 2023 has been working in the industry for nearly four decades. His journey has taken him from shop-floor sales staff at Next Retail in the mid-1980s, moving through the ranks at Next into visual merchandising, buying, buying management, and finally sourcing, where he was responsible for setting up the UK arm of Next’s global sourcing operation.

Prior to joining ASOS, Simon was Head of Branded and Own Brand Buying for the outdoor specialist retailers Blacks and Millets. Before that, he spent 10 years as Director/Partner at Lazzati UK, a multi-regional supplier of men’s, women’s, and children’s apparel and footwear to UK high street retailers and brands, where he led the product development and sourcing teams.

Outside of work, Sheffield-born Simon lives with his family in Leicestershire and pursues his passions for outdoor activities, the environment, nature, and conservation.

OLIVER BRUCKNER

With over 25 years in the Production, Sourcing and Buying experience within Luxury to High Street branded Apparel, Footwear, Homeware and Accessories, Oliver has a successful history working closely with different business founders, and his most recent role was as Production Director for the French Connection Group.

Oliver has worked with small to more complex supply chains focusing in the areas of product development, sourcing and production which he has a passion for.

A leader and mentor who enjoys working with people, sharing and developing new ideas. Always up for a challenge within the world of fashion and product, and enjoys problem-solving with the team.

Oliver has a BA Honours degree and Fellowship in Fashion & Textile Design from Liverpool John Moore’s University.

Always happy when involved in football — whether watching, playing, or coaching his youth district team.

NICK REED

MARK SUMNER

Mark Sumner is the Programme Lead for WRAP’s activities to improve the sustainability of textiles. His remit includes developing the strategy for Textiles 2030 — the UK industry’s initiative to reduce GHG emissions and water footprint, and to create the pathway to a circular textile system. He is also involved in WRAP’s growing international textiles work.

Mark has worked in the textiles and clothing industry for over 25 years. He has a PhD in Textile Engineering and spent over 15 years working in product development, supply chain management and sustainability for the UK’s largest retailer. He also spent 10 years at the University of Leeds as a Sustainable Fashion lecturer, completing research in consumer behaviour, modern slavery, microfibres and garment durability.

Throughout his work in textiles he has focused on understanding the system dynamics of the textile and clothing industries to ensure solutions are sustainable and reflect stakeholder needs, incorporating frameworks such as the UN SDGs and Just Transitions principles.