Fashion stationery chain seeking a CEO with a global focus.

 

While Premier Investments continues its search for a new CEO of Smiggle, it seems the fashion stationery chain’s growth prospects lie overseas rather than in its domestic market.

 

With the young target market pre-occupied with devices and parents leaning more towards cheaper online retailers, Smiggle’s global sales declined 10.7 per cent year-on-year to $264 million in the 2025 financial year, following a 7.4 per cent drop the previous year.

 

Smiggle sales picked up in the second half of the financial year, and have improved again in the first six weeks of 2026, although they remain four per cent lower than the prior period.

 

As Premier Investments chairman Solomon Lew has lost none of his faith in Smiggle’s growth prospects, and remains fully committed to finding more overseas partners to operate Smiggle stores around the world, wholesale partnerships in the Middle East and Indonesia are building nicely, according to a recent report in the Australian Financial Review.

 

Following the controversial departure last year of John Cheston, the AFR suggested that Lew wants a different type of CEO for Smiggle.

 

“With the business now mature in Australia, New Zealand and Britain, Lew needs a CEO who can drive overseas growth under that capital-lite wholesale model.

 

"Someone from the domestic market here really doesn’t know the international market,” the AFR stated.