My-wardrobe hires new director

My-wardrobe.com has recruited former Liberty fashion director Luisa de Paula as the business marches towards sales of £20 million within five years.

De Paula, who left her role as fashion director at Liberty last year, has been brought in as director of buying and merchandising to help inject the "nuts and bolts" of retail, such as good merchandising practices, ahead of a huge growth plan. She also aims to introduce fledgling brands to give My-wardrobe.com a point of difference online.

De Paula said the designer womenswear etailer's website needed attention to take it to the next level. She said: "I'm here to introduce the nuts and bolts, such as buying processes, and to help the team manage bigger budgets and implement reports and processes.

"We want to mix new up-and-coming brands, which we will source from shows, with established brands that givecustomers confidence in shopping online."

De Paula's appointment follows strong Christmas trading at My-wardrobe.com. Sales for December more than doubled to £115,722, against £56,790 for the same period in 2006. Sales for the whole of 2007 rose by 143% to £981,000.

De Paula, who was a buying manager at Selfridges before taking the fashion director role at Liberty, is one of a raft of new appointments at My-wardrobe.com.

The etailer has also appointed former pop star Louise Redknapp, who now presents The Clothes Show on UKTV Style, as a non-executive director. It also recruited former Drapers  fashion writer Leanne O'Shea as brand manager at the end of last year.