Hunkemöller CEO steps down after 15 years

Philip Mountford, who spent 15 years at the helm of the Dutch lingerie brand Hunkemöller, is leaving the company on January 31, 2024. He announced this himself via LinkedIn.

The CEO described his time at Hunkemöller as a "love affair" and called it "the best time of his business career".

Mountford joined Hunkemöller in 2009. The lingerie brand then had 350 stores in Belgium, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

“Now, with over 900 stores in more than twenty countries and a super-fast omni-channel eco-system, I am making room for a new CEO,” Mountford said in a video shares by the brand.

It is not yet known who Mountford's successor is.

In February, Hunkemöller appointed the new CFO, Nick Grensham, who also became a member of the company's board of directors.

"As Hunkemöller continues to expand globally and broaden its product offerings, Nick Gresham's expertise and strategic skills will play a central role in achieving the company's long-term growth goals," a press release said at the time.

The same post also shared that Samantha Swain was joining as director of global merchandise and planning effective March 8.

Philip Mountford leaves Hunkemöller after 15 years

When Mountford joined Hunkemöller in 2009, he wanted to focus on growing existing sites in terms of turnover and profit. Foreign expansion was also high on the agenda.

“The product and people, both employees and customers, are the key to success,” he said at the time. “By offering our customers the right product, which must be both inspiring and functional, our employees can sell more and better. The trick is to reach new customers without losing existing relationships.”

And he did that successfully. In 2010, for example, he considerably expanded the sales outlets in Germany and launched the brand into Poland in 2011. That same year, the lingerie label crossed the borders of the UK for the first time.

A year later it set foot in Sweden. This was followed by countries such as India and Switzerland. Mountford's expansion over the past fifteen years means that the company now has more than 900 stores to its name.

This article originally appeared on FashionUnited.NL. Translation and edit by: Rachel Douglass.