Jane Shepherdson

{{Short description|English businesswoman (born 1961)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

Jane Elizabeth Shepherdson{{Cite web|url=http://company-director-check.co.uk/director/911469367|title=MS JANE ELIZABETH SHEPHERDSON director information. Free director information. Director id 911469367}} CBE (born 23 August 1961{{Cite web|url=http://www.dellam.com/06691868-PEOPLE%20TREE%20FOUNDATION.html|title = Dellam Corporate Information Limited, England}} in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire) is an English businesswoman. {{As of|2016}} she was the chief executive of UK clothing brand Whistles, and had been the brand director for high-street women's wear store TopShop.

She grew up in Bristol where her father was head of the mathematics department at the university, and her mother was a biochemist. She was educated at Clifton High School, where she began customising her clothes. She studied Business Studies at the University of North London, joining the Burton Group (now the Arcadia Group), after being inspired by her mother's story of a fashion buyer friend.[https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_objectid=16261614&method=full&siteid=94762&headline=shy-genius-who-turned-flopshop-into-the-high-st-darling-topshop---name_page.html Shy Genius Who Turned Flopshop Into The High St Darling Topshop - Mirror.Co.Uk]

Shepherdson started as a warehouse picker sending stock to stores, and was then promoted to become a buyer in the jersey department. She ordered a shipment of tank tops, of which 500,000 were sold in a week. Her initiatives at TopShop included{{Citation needed|date=January 2016}}:

• TopShop Freshers' Week party - to attract teenaged customers
• TopShop To Go - delivering items from a list of 100
• TopShop Express - fast online motor scooter delivery

The Times quoted her views on the need for speed in introducing fashion in 2006, at TopShop.Sunday Times Style, 17 September 2006

{{cite news| url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2104-2349051,00.html |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615151914/http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/style/article633262.ece| archivedate=15 June 2011|work=The Times | location=London | title=The way we dress now | date=2006-09-17 |author=Shane Watson| accessdate=2010-05-05}}

A week after TopShop owner Philip Green announced that supermodel Kate Moss had signed a deal to design clothes to be launched in 2007, Shepherdson resigned from Topshop,{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/5412848.stm | work=BBC News | title=Topshop ructions as fashion boss quits | date=2006-10-06 | accessdate=2010-05-05}} and was producing, unpaid, a fashion chain for Oxfam, aimed at "ethically conscious shoppers". She has hit out at "cheap, cheap" clothes that exploit workers in developing countries,{{cite news| url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/article67052.ece| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160128091104/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/style/fashion/article67052.ece| url-status=dead| archive-date=January 28, 2016| work=The Sunday Times | location=London | title=Oxfam stores get touch of Topshop | first=Jenny | last=Davey | date=2007-06-24 | accessdate=2010-05-05}} {{Subscription required}} possibly referring to Kate Moss's range.

In January 2008, Shepherdson bought a 20 per cent share in Whistles and was appointed chief executive.{{cite news |url=http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article3294036.ece|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110612053737/http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/movers_and_shakers/article3294036.ece|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 June 2011|title=Return of fashion queen Jane Shepherdson|accessdate=2008-06-13 |author=Davey, Jenny |date=2008-02-03 |work=Times Online | location=London}}

Shepherdson is married to a criminal defence lawyer, and cycles from their flat in South London to work. She lists her hobbies as running, horse riding, skiing, and shopping.

Already a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), she was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2015 New Year Honours for services to UK retail business.{{London Gazette|issue=61092|supp=y|page=N10|date=31 December 2014}}[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf 2015 New Year Honours List] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102104907/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391413/New_Year_Honours_List_2015.pdf |date=2015-01-02 }}