California Apparel News

Former Directives West partner Sandy Potter has joined Pasadena, Calif.–based e-commerce start-up MyShape (www.myshape.com) as its new chief merchandise officer.

Potter joins other new appointments, including General Merchandise Manager Ladwig Tobia and Chief Marketing Officer Linda Freedman.

MyShape is an online retailer that was launched in March by entrepreneur Louise Wannier. The company is targeting women who don’t have time to shop via traditional means. The site offers a personal-shopping service powered by a patented technology called ShapeMatch, which matches body shapes and personal characteristics with vendors and items in numerous categories such as denim and careerwear, cutting out a lot of the legwork associated with shopping.

In her new position, Potter will oversee strategies for the merchandising department, taking over many of the tasks previously managed by former Nord-strom executive Dianne Starnes, who was recently promoted to general merchandising manager.

Potter has more than 30 years of experience, having managed top-ranked retail consultancy Directives West as well as having served in various management capacities for retailers including The Broadway, Bullock’s and J.W. Robinsons.

“I think we had a great start with Dianne Starnes,” Wannier said. “Sandy brings more of a strategic leadership position. We are really building out our assortment and reaching millions of women now.”

Added Potter: “MyShape represents an exciting new direction in how we can connect designers, manufacturers and other retailers with the women who want an easier, more enjoyable way to discover great fashions that make them feel good about themselves.”

Since last year’s launch, the company said it has been able to reduce return ratios by as much as 50 percent off industry averages.

Tobia comes to the company from Robinsons-May, where she was vice president and division merchandise manager for juniors/girls, a category that she helped grow from 3.5 percent of the retailer’s merchandise mix to 5 percent.

Freedman held marketing positions with StyleClick and ModaCAD, suppliers of 3-D and merchandising tools for the e-commerce industry.

The new staff joins an impressive list of supporters at MyShape. Board members include former Wet Seal Chief Executive Officer Peter J. Whitford and Emily Melton, director of Menlo Park, Calif.–based venture-capital specialist Draper Fisher Jurvetson.

“We’re the future of retailing. We represent how apparel shopping will evolve for manufacturers, designers and consumers,” Wannier said.—Robert McAllister