Rapha appoints Chief Brand Officer to lead 'next chapter'

British cycling apparel brand Rapha has appointed Jodie Harrison as Chief Brand Officer, reporting to CEO Fran Millar.

Harrison has already been working with Rapha in a brand strategy consultant role since January 2025. She will now work with the leadership team "to oversee the end-to-end recalibration" of Rapha’s brand position.

Appointed as CEO of Rapha in September 2024, Millar previously hired Harrison while she was CEO at Belstaff - from October 2020 to September 2024.

Harrison held the Chief Brand Officer role at Belstaff between January 2022 and December 2024, after seven months as a brand marketing consultant for the century-old motorcycle apparel brand.

Commenting on the appointment, Millar said: "Rapha was built on originality and courage, which Jodie brings to everything she does. I’m delighted she will lead the focus on inspiring new and future fans in this next chapter for the brand."

Harrison said: "At 21 years young, Rapha has already achieved an enviable and established heritage. It’s a brand’s brand - recognised globally and genuinely loved - so shepherding it into a new era comes with great responsibility. This is not something I take lightly, there’s a lot of careful work to do."

Rapha’s in-house atelier brings together top tier designers from fashion and sport to push the boundaries of performance wear, with a history of material and functional innovation.

The brand has also collaborated with the likes of Palace and Patta "to bring new audiences to a sport rooted in tradition".

Harrison added: "No other brand has defined and redefined cycling like Rapha, transforming the way the world sees the sport. Rapha made cycling relevant, evocative and alluring. As such, our founder Simon Mottram has built the kind of passionate community most brands can only dream of."

The Rapha Cycling Club (RCC) has upwards of 16,000 members worldwide. From 22 clubhouses located in global cycling hubs, the brand runs more than 4,000 rides each year, cycling over three million miles with its members.

Brand-building has been the common theme throughout Harrison’s career, which started in the magazine industry at GQ. After seven years rising through the ranks, she was asked to join menswear start-up, Mr Porter, as its founding Editorial Director. From there, she became Soho House’s Creative & Content Director in 2017, followed by time in the US at Anthropologie and online fashion website, Moda Operandi.

After returning to lead the Soho House membership strategy, Harrison founded her own brand consultancy, Fell & Scar, and it was in that capacity that she was first hired by Millar at Belstaff.