Fashion industry
Simon Whitehouse is one of the youngest CEO’s inside LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods group, with a revenue of over €40 billion. The Staffordshire University graduate and Stoke-on-Trent local has risen through the fashion industry at lightening pace, achieving his career goal by the age of 37. The globe-trotting executive still finds the time to return to his home town several times a year and runs 100-mile ultra-marathons to raise money for mental health charity Mind.
“I visualised where I am today about 15 years ago and just didn’t stop working towards it,” Simon explained. “There were occasions where I just didn’t sleep. I’d work all day as a brand director and run my own social enterprise in the evenings, sometimes no sleep at all.”
Simon’s drive and meteoric rise brought him to the attention of multi-billion-pound conglomerate LVMH, which owns a wide range of luxury goods companies and brands, such as Moët Hennessy and Louis Vuitton. Simon was placed in charge of J.W.Anderson, a fast-rising label launched by designer Jonathan Anderson, “the Marc Jacobs of this generation”, explained Simon.
Career beginnings
His start in the fashion industry began after completing a Business degree at Staffordshire University. Simon studied for A Levels at Clough Hall School, in Stoke-on-Trent, but admits: “At GCSE I was always top of the class, straight A student, but at A level I didn’t get very good grades because, for a couple of years, I came off the rails and went a very bad way. I didn’t study, failed all of them, except somehow I got a B in English Literature and scraped onto a HND course at Staffordshire University.”
In 1997, Simon spent a year doing a top-up and left with a 2:1 undergraduate degree in Business. After graduating, he got his start in the fashion industry, spending eighteen months working at Hanley shop Infinity, before moving to London in 1999 to work for shoe company Camper.
“Fashion was just something we always paid attention to as kids,” Simon recalled. “We were always the ones starting the trends. I’ve been asking myself what is it about the fashion industry that appealed and, I suppose, back then it was the only interest I had. Since I started working in the industry, I’ve never felt like I’ve worked a day in my whole life.”
In 2001, Simon moved to The Donna Karan Company, quickly rising within the Business Development department. At 28, the company created a job for him at their head office in New York, where he continued to elevate the profile of the brand, as well as improve wholesale and distribution.
Charity work
Simon also ran his own social enterprise between 2006 to 2009. SIE organised World Cup style soccer tournaments for children in Brazil and the UK, using a team of “Big Hairy Monster” mascots to emphasise the importance of will-power as well as skill-set in children’s education. He helped thousands of children achieve their dreams of playing football in their favourite teams’ stadiums, working with clubs including Stoke City and Sheffield United in England and Vasco da Gama and CRB in Brazil. The tournaments were supported by World Cup soccer legends Pelé, Gordon Banks and Carlos Alberto Torres, as well as a personal connection with the Archbishop emeritus, The Most Reverend, Desmond Tutu through the global humanitarian Don Mullan.
In 2008, Simon moved to Matthew Williamson, as Commercial Director. Then in 2010 to Diesel, as Worldwide Brand Director, which meant relocating to Milan, Italy. After four years, he was asked to lead rising fashion brand J.W.Anderson by LVMH and jumped at the opportunity to become one of the youngest CEOs in the group’s history. “I had this dream of becoming a CEO in fashion by the time I was 40 and I got there by 37,” said Simon.
Shortly before achieving his dream, Simon set himself another goal, to raise $1 million for Mind by running 100-mile plus ultra-marathons. So far, he’s collected more than $50,000 in donations. Aiming for one ultra-marathon a year, his longest so far is 175 miles in 41 hours, from London to Stoke-on-Trent non-stop.
As well as regularly returning to Stoke to see family, he’s also partnering with Staffordshire University, to speak to students about his career and the fashion industry. He said: “I’ve got a lot of experiences from working in the fashion industry and I’m at a point now, at 41, where I’d like to share those experiences with others just starting out on their careers, so they can learn from it.”
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