In Conversation: Harvey Nichols, Nadine Merabi, FitFlop and more...
Last month, we spoke to founders and business leaders from across the fashion industry about their product strategies, international expansion plans and how they are differentiating their brands in an increasingly competitive market.
FitFlop CEO Gianni Georgiades on science, stores and scaling a trailblazing brand
“Product is king. Everything we do is tested in a human performance lab. It's clinically engineered, and unlike some others where it's cosmetic, everything for us has a purpose and a reason for being. We try to fuse comfort and aesthetics, because one without the other does not work long term.” - Gianni Georgiades, CEO of FitFlop
Five years after joining FitFlop, CEO Gianni Georgiades has repositioned the independent footwear business from a broad comfort proposition to a science-backed global brand with recognisable design codes.
In this interview with TheIndustry.fashion, he discusses the brands transition from a legacy double-density constructions to lighter single-density engineered midsoles, and how this has supported FitFlop’s expansion across sneakers and clogs, while retaining its focus on comfort and performance.
Vollebak co-founder on wearable tech, wholesale ambitions and building clothes for the next century
"We are doing a series of eight projects this year that we would class as really pushing the boundaries of clothing. I think it's massively important to do projects that are pure moonshot ideas, it's very important to test the limits of what we are capable of." - Nick Tidball, co-founder of Vollebak
Product innovation is something that the two brothers and co-founders of experimental clothing company Vollebak know well.
The brand is working on eight experimental projects during 2026, with three focused on wearable technology. Its first release this year, the Sonic Jacket, features a prototype design engineered to shift the wearer's cognitive and physiological state through sound.
In this interview with TheIndustry.fashion co-founder Nick Tidball discusses Vollebak’s technology projects and distribution plans, including an appearance at Paris Fashion Week to assess wholesale demand.
CQP founder Adam Lewenhaupt on trading finance for footwear and following his design dream
"We have stayed very true to ourselves and we’ve been very authentic, which clearly shows in our products. I’d like to think we are leaders when it comes to creating products at the intersection of elegance and casual, and that our customers feel that we offer something different in terms of quality and fit." - Adam Lewenhaupt, founder of CQP
We also sat down with another footwear pioneer this month, Adam Lewenhaupt, the Founder of Stockholm-based premium footwear brand CQP. Known for its understated, unique and carefully constructed sneakers, the brand has grown slowly and without external financing since Lewenhaupt founded it in 2014.
The former investment banker told us all about CQP’s “handmade sneakers without compromise” and his journey so far.
Designer Exchange CEO on keeping the ‘buy, sell and exchange’ strategy simple and opening more stores
"What makes the resale space so rewarding is this constant evolution; heritage and archival pieces are regularly rediscovered, finding passionate new audiences as modern tastes circle back." - Dominic Durante, CEO of Designer Exchange
The journey of building and growing businesses was also a theme that we followed in this interview with Designer Exchange CEO Dominic Durante, who discussed how the pre-loved luxury retailer has been expanding without changing the simple model it established in 2013.
All of Designer Exchange's stock comes directly from its customers, and the stores' 'buy, sell and exchange' model remains a strategy that is clearly working. Durante tells us all about it.
How I started in fashion: Nadine Merabi, founder of MERABI
"Looking back, it was both exciting and incredibly challenging. Those early years taught me resilience, adaptability and the importance of believing in your vision, even before anyone else does." - Nadine Merabi, founder and Creative Director of MERABI
Lewenhaupt isn't the only founder who started his career outside of the fashion industry. Merabi founder and Creative Director Nadine Merabi began her fashion business in 2015 with a £250 sewing machine after a career as a competitive hockey player. Selfridges subsequently asked her to develop a full range, helping move the label beyond its early one-off designs.
In her interview about starting and scaling MERABI, the designer describes learning every part of the operation herself, from sourcing fabrics to packing orders. The Manchester-headquartered brand is now expanding its offering even more, from its signature occassionwear range now to more every-day styles including denim. With a recently appointed new CEO, the brand is looking ahead towards its next phase of international growth.
How I started in fashion: Harvey Nichols Chief Merchant Kate Benson
"Like many people in the fashion industry, my career began at 16 in a shop. It taught me that if you show drive and ambition, you can get noticed and supported into new and exciting roles. I moved from the shop floor into Head Office as an Assistant Buyer and my career developed from there." - Kate Benson, Chief Merchant at Harvey Nichols
Another standout interview with a female fashion executive saw TheIndustry.fashion sit down with Harvey Nichols' Chief Merchant Kate Benson, where she traced back how her early retail experience established a customer-led approach that still informs her decisions today.
While she started on the shop floor at 16, she now works across more than 300 brands and is overseeing changes to Harvey Nichols’ product strategy and branded spaces. In this interview she reflects on her journey through fashion, the lessons she has learned along the way, the leaders who have inspired her, and her ambitions for the next chapter of her career.
