John Smedley’s New Managing Director is Ready to Take the Brand to New Heights

LONDON — John Smedley, the 241-year-old British brand that specializes in knitwear, is finally ready to make some noise.

The brand has named Jess Mcguire Dudley as its new managing director, taking over from Ian Maclean, a member of the Smedley family, who will be stepping into an executive chairman’s role after 25 years with the business.

And Dudley has a lot of big ideas up her sleeves.

Dudley has been with the company for 11 years, climbing the ranks from head of marketing and merchandising to, most recently, deputy managing director, where she oversaw e-commerce, retail, licensing, buying and merchandising.

Her role breaks from tradition since she comes from a creative background and is also the brand’s first female managing director.

“We’re working on a revised strategy at the moment, which will launch later this year. As managing director, I will be leading the business and covering all departments,” she said in an interview.

Part of her plan is to encourage more young people to work for the brand.

“I’m setting up a John Smedley talent bank to support the younger generations of employees and really find ways to bring them up through the business and to make us a more attractive employer of choice,” Dudley said.

One example is a position the company had been hoping to fill for more than two years: a wash and dye house manager. “That’s not enticing to any graduate,” she said. “When I looked into the role, it’s a bridge between design and yarn.” She changed the name of the job to technical colorist and within six weeks, it was filled.

Dudley will be seeking to touch other parts of the thriving business as well — starting with wool. The business has made multimillion-pound investments into all of its artisans and machinery in order to “protect the skills,” but is not getting the credit she believes it deserves.

“I really want to put us back on the map as having British manufacturing of British wool in one place. I don’t think we’ve been as good as other brands about showcasing that to the world,” she said.

As reported, the brand celebrated 110 years of trade in Japan last year with a limited-edition collection.

John Smedley manufactured outside of its Derbyshire headquarters in the U.K. for the first time by producing the range in Japan as a nod to the country’s artisans.

The 10-piece collection includes soft tailored jackets and trousers in dark shades of brown, olive and navy; white and blue striped shirts; classically cut outerwear; dense white T-shirts, and a utilitarian take on coordinates.

Dudley said the diversification of the product range has been received positively and John Smedley will continue to expand its categories as she seeks to draw more people to engage with the brand.

One way of doing that is by enhancing the experience in its retail stores. During her tenure with the company, Dudley has opened 11 John Smedley stores in Japan and two in London. “We’re looking at making our retail stores and e-commerce more enticing,” she said.

The brand has hinted at further store openings later this year and some in 2026, but Dudley is currently “invested in making sure we offer the best customer experience” in the current retail locations rather than opening new stores. The company currently operates 13 stores.

According to the brand, since assuming the position of deputy managing director in 2022, Dudley has already had a major impact on the business. She’s improved global sales across e-commerce by 80 percent and retail by 6 percent. The private company did not disclose any sales figures.

Dudley said that the U.K., Japan and Italy are John Smedley’s biggest markets with a “strong menswear presence” across the three countries. “When I joined the company over 10 years ago, it was 70 percent womenswear and 50 percent menswear in Japan,” she said, noting that the number has changed to be more even now.

Historically, the brand has had a dedicated menswear following. The footwear designer Manolo Blahnik only wears John Smedley white rollnecks. “We take an order of 120 of them at a time,” Dudley said. Another fan is the British artist David Hockey, who favors the brand’s Finchley polo shirt with a thick collar and long cuffs.

“We find that men come into the shop and they ask for a particular style shirt they like and take seven of them in different colors,” Dudley said.

But, in recent years, there’s been a greater crossover between the brand’s younger customers, who are shopping both men’s and womenswear. It’s one of the reasons that Dudley has introduced a unisex range into the brand in 2015.

“We had Paul Mescal wearing one of our women’s cardigans. Knitwear itself just has no gender, really,” she said.

At the same time, the brand is also working on broadening its consumer base beyond its luxury clientele to further extend its reach. In February, John Smedley launched a diffusion line, JS by John Smedley, which is sold exclusively at John Lewis, that retails for $56 to $239, below the average of $305 in its core line.