Mothercare gathers in-house teams together under one head

Mothercare has made sweeping changes to its in-house design team, streamlining the department under a single head of design, Felicity Wade.

Until now, Mothercare’s in-house team has been run by two separate heads of design – Mark Hales, head of design for home, travel and toys, and Wade, who was head of design for clothing.

Hales has resigned, but will continue to consult for Mothercare on specialist projects. Three new design managers will now report to Wade.

Mothercare segments its design team into a ‘soft’ division, which covers textiles and soft products, such as cuddly toys, and a ‘hard’ division, which encompasses furniture and more solid products.

One design manager has been appointed to handle clothing, and another to oversee the newborn and home categories, plus the ‘soft’ sections of travel and toys. A design manager for the ‘hard’ sections of its home, travel and toys categories has yet to be appointed.

Last month, Mothercare launched its first comprehensive set of brand guidelines, designed by NB Studio, in a bid to create a more powerful high street brand (DW 14 September). The series of six books aims to bring consistency to the Mothercare brand and reposition it with a younger, more confident proposition.

Wade was unavailable to comment as Design Week went to press.