Mylius M&S exit leaves questions

Marks & Spencer head of brand design Rodney Mylius is leaving his post at the British retail giant in order to set up his own design consultancy.

Mylius is planning to set up a retail design group called Fortune Street, together with former Interbrand chief executive Tony Allen and Interbrand retail strategist Richard Village.

The move leaves a question mark over the fate of M&S’s troubled internal design team, after reports that Mylius, unavailable for comment as Design Week went to press, was a fallout casualty from the retailer’s under-performing homewares operation Lifestore.

Lifestore, headed by former Selfridges chief executive and design aficionado Vittorio Radice, has not performed as well as hoped – the £13m Gateshead store has failed to meet its sales targets.

In the throes of a takeover bid from Philip Green and a management re-shuffle, which has seen Stuart Rose replace chief executive Roger Holmes, the M&S board is reportedly also assessing the fate of Radice, currently executive director of general merchandising.

Holmes labelled the design of Lifestore products as ‘too contemporary’ last week.