Vital role for Davies in M&S plan

MARKS & Spencer chief executive Stuart Rose plans to tap into designer George Davies' expertise in his efforts to turn round the struggling chain.

Davies, who sold the successful per una business to M&S for £125m, is committed to staying on for two years.

'I shall be seeing a lot more of him,' Rose told industry bible Drapers. 'I think he can help us get some good thinking in terms of speed to market and fashion trends.'

Rose is also keen for Davies and new womenswear director Kate Bostock, who joined from Asda's George business, to form a close working relationship.

'There probably wasn't a relationship between the buying department in womenswear and per una before, and that's got to change,' Rose said.

Bostock, five weeks into her new role, is battling against M&S culture. Her call for the womenswear team to get out into the stores was, she says, greeted with a distinct lack of enthusiasm: 'You'd have thought I'd told them to go and do something really quite painful.' But they came back energised and excited, she said.

One innovation will be staff wearing M&S clothes on the shop floor.