Kate Bostock must 'build up her stock again' after Asos and M&S departures

Bostock joined Asos in January from Marks & Spencer, where she was executive director for general merchandise, but has stepped down after concluding that “Asos wasn’t the right place for me” – an opinion shared by many in the industry when the appointment was announced last year.

 “The online platform and younger customer were probably too much for Kate; she’s good at value retailing and bricks-and-mortar,” said one headhunter. “But we need to give her a break. She needs to take a lot of time off – several months – do something she is good at and do it quietly.”

Another headhunter added that Bostock could return to run a smaller fashion company but would need the strong support of a chairman. “What brand is big enough for Kate to run just the product side? She has to go for a smaller brand, with support from a good financial director and chairman. She’s a first-class retailer.”

Industry insiders have suggested Bostock could “do a Jane Shepherdson”, who left Topshop in 2008 to buy Whistles. “But Jane left with her stock very high,” said one recruitment consultant. “Kate was publicly under a lot of pressure at M&S and needs to build up her stock again. She won’t walk into something new straight away – she should take time off – but she’s one of those people who will always get a job.”