Jake Bancroft

Jake Bancroft is described by Sarah Coggles managing director Mark Bage as “clever, insightful and hard-working. He’s exceptionally well thought of in the industry”.

Bancroft moved to York five years ago, working initially at footwear retailer Office. Driven by his passion for fashion, he targeted Coggles with a calculated approach. Bancroft says: “I got to know Coggles first and then Mark, and told him I’d like to run his store.”

It wasn’t long before he was doing just that, joining the business four years ago as menswear manager and Paul Smith manager, assisting Bage on buying.

Two years later, the menswear buying position became available and Bancroft took it, relocating to the London buying office for the store and online businesses.

“I’ve always been a product boy. I’m fascinated by the detail. But I wanted to be a menswear buyer and with a business like Coggles you have the ability to really do it, to change things, to see how it works,” he says.

Describing himself as a denim geek, who has grown up with contemporary tailoring from the likes of Oliver Spencer and Maison Martin Margiela, Bancroft says his ambition was initially to have his own store: “[But] I’d like to progress at a buying level [now] and become a buying director one day.”

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