Founder of Joules steps down as CEO

Tom Joule, founder of iconic country-inspired high street label Joules, has stepped down from his role as chief executive officer in order to focus on leading the brand’s creative design. The label has promoted managing director Colin Porter to take over the helm.

Together with the company board, Joule revealed that Porter’s new appointment mirrors the ongoing developments leadership roles at Joules have undergone over the past year, which has been the label’s most commercially successful to date - for the year that ended May 31, 2015 the reported a sales increase of 22 percent to 117 million pounds, the largest revenue growth during its 25 year existence.

“Colin has done an outstanding job during his tenure as managing director. Handing the chief executive reins to him allows me time to get closer to the customer, their lifestyle and continue to deliver our distinct brand vision,” said Joule on Porter’s appointment to Drapers.

Porter first joined the team at Joules towards the end of 2010 from menswear label Crombie. Prior to his one year tenure at Crombie, he worked for 10 years at House of Fraser, serving in numerous roles including commercial director and merchandise director.

In his new role as CEO, Porter aims to spread head the labels continual development as well its ongoing growth, “Joules continues to develop as a lifestyle brand across categories and distribution channels and we have experienced fantastic momentum in our home market in the UK, as well as international markets [primarily the US and Germany], where we are establishing the brand," said Porter.

“We remain hugely excited about the growth opportunities for Joules across product categories, territories and distribution channels, and I am thrilled to be taking on this new role to continue to drive the business to new heights.”