NORDSTROM HIRES MR PORTER ALUM SAM LOBBAN AS VP OF MEN’S DESIGNER AND NEW CONCEPTS

Nordstrom has announced that Sam Lobban has joined the Seattle-based retailer as VP, Men’s Designer and New Concepts. This is a new role created to help further evolve the retailer’s men’s business.

This role will support the Men’s Designer team and New Concepts that relate to men’s initiatives in merchandising, e-commerce, marketing, content development, store environment, private label, and shopping experience. Lobban will report directly to co-president Pete Nordstrom with a dotted line to executive vice president and GMM of Menswear, Paige Thomas.

Lobban brings deep industry experience and connections to the Nordstrom team. He joins Nordstrom most recently from Mr. Porter where he held the position of Buying Manager (the UK’s equivalent of DMM) for the last three years.

Previous roles at Mr. Porter include Senior Buyer and Buyer. He was with Mr. Porter for seven years, starting as a member of the launch team. There, he spearheaded the Exclusive Capsule Collection model, securing capsule collections from established brands such as Gucci, Prada, and Balenciaga. Another highlight of his work was a “Made in California” set of capsules–12 brands including Amiri and Noon Goons, Rick Owens, The Elder Statesman, Stussy and John Elliott with dedicated editorial content to complement the brands. In addition to launching brands such as Nike (including NikeLab), Off-White, Fear of God and Visvim, Lobban also created and launched new category concepts for Mr. Porter such as Performance Sport (now 40 specialty brands) and Japanese designers (now 25 brands).

Lobban started his retail career on the sales floor at London-based Selfridges & Co. where he was quickly promoted to corporate roles including Men’s Designer and Contemporary Buyer in his six-year career there before joining Mr. Porter. While living in London, Lobban was a panel member of both the British Fashion Council’s NewGen Men and FashionEast Men’s support and show programs for six years. He continues to sit on the Fashion East panel remotely from NYC.

Jeffrey Kalinsky, Nordstrom vice president and designer fashion director introduced Pete Nordstrom to Lobban about a year ago. He said, “here is a talented person you need to meet” and Pete took it from there.

Sam’s first day with Nordstrom was Tuesday, June 5 and is based in NYC.