New Look boss Alistair McGeorge: I’d break a business — to see how to fix it

With his bulky frame and thinning hair, Alistair McGeorge stands out from the twentysomething shoppers darting around New Look’s store on London’s Oxford Street. The chartered accountant, parachuted in to rescue the budget retailer 20 months ago, could never be mistaken for a fashionista — but he’s keen to point out some of the common-sense changes he has made.

“We’ve gone away from putting loads of mannequins in the windows that nobody looks at, and we’ve changed the layout,” McGeorge says. “The previous regime would have had a lot of ‘trends’ ” — he accentuates the word with distaste — “and were creating trends that didn’t exist. We’ve made it easier: if you want to buy a skirt, go to the skirt department.”

Read the full article on The Sunday Times [paywall].