BELSTAFF BRINGS TRADEMARK BACK TO THE UK, APPOINTS NEW CFO

Global luxury lifestyle brand Belstaff has transferred its trademark and finance function back to the UK from Switzerland. These factors herald the completion of the brand’s return to its birthplace, originating in Stoke-on-Trent in 1924, but headquartered variously in UK, Italy and USA. Belstaff HQ returned to Britain in July 2014 with Gavin Haig joining the company as CEO and the design studio and other functions being rehoused above the London flagship.

“Belstaff is proud to finally be able to genuinely call itself a modern British heritage brand,” said Haig. “Our key operations stem from the UK and we now count three Brits among our senior management team. Only Belstaff production remains stationed in Italy, although our wax cotton is produced in Northern England and we hope to grow our UK production further.”

This news coincides with the appointment of CFO Mike Woodcock, joining Belstaff from Montblanc. Woodcock, who previously worked with Haig at Dunhill, is masterminding the move over of all IP, looking to straighten out the business model via SAP implementation, trim overheads, streamline working practices and reduce key offices from five (previously London, Milan, Switzerland, New York and Venice) to one (London HQ) with a Venice sourcing hub.

Woodcock said, “I was delighted to accept the appointment as Belstaff is clearly moving with immense speed. I wanted to be part of building something great at this point in my career.”