John Lewis' suits have been criticized by the retailer's former managing director. Credit: Jason Alden/Bloomberg
John Lewis no longer sells «proper suits,» his former managing director Andy Street said, as the retailer faces growing pressure to boost its department store profits.
Mr Street, now mayor of the West Midlands, has criticized the selection available in John Lewis' menswear departments, adding that he prefers to shop with local tailors rather than his former employer.
This comes after the retailer's losses increased by £82m last year as the company ramped up efforts to cut costs by £600m through January 2026.
Speaking to Bloomberg, Street also questioned Dame Sharon White's strategy, in particular her planned entry into the housing market to boost her earnings.
The John Lewis Partnership (JLP) is converting former warehouses and stores into rental homes to diversify its retail income.
Mr Street, who led the partnership from 2007 to 2016, said: «I honestly don't understand why they chose to do this.»
The pressure on Dame Sharon has increased in recent weeks, leading the chairman to face backlash from staff over her management of the partnership. In a vote on JLP's 58-member employee council earlier this month, employees said they did not trust the company's performance over the past year under her leadership.
Analysts considered this a public embarrassment, although Dame Sharon was supported in the second vote on her future strategy, with the JLP saying it was the more important of the two votes.
Mr Street told The Telegraph that he believes peer pressure was one of the reasons Ms Sharon recently ruled out demutualization. Earlier this year, it was reported that John Lewis was considering selling a stake in his business to help him out of the crisis.
The proposal drew criticism from industry leaders, as well as Mr. Street, who said that it would be «tragedy» if JLP changed its ownership model.
Andy Street served as managing director for John Lewis before becoming mayor of the West Midlands. Photo: Holly Adams/Getty Images
At a board meeting earlier this month, Dame Sharon said that while the partnership would consider outside investment if it couldn't fund its plans with its own funds, «absolutely out of the question about demutualization.
“I want to be absolutely categorical. The John Lewis partnership will always be an employee-owned business, with no buts or ifs,” she added.
Mr Street said: “All that matters is that the right decision was made by the chair and her board… I guess part of that was peer pressure. So actually I think this is a really good example of the ownership structure at John Lewis that encourages management to make the right decisions. It was the right decision, no questions asked.»
He said the John Lewis executives were «encouraged, forced, whatever word you use to come up with the right decision.»
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