Jules names Benoit Legrand head of retail and customers Europe

Joannes Soënen, managing director of French menswear retailer Jules since June 2023, has announced the appointment of Benoit Legrand as head of Retail and Customers Europe. “Benoit, an experienced retail executive, will contribute his operational expertise and strategic vision to support Jules’s transformation plan,” wrote Soënen on LinkedIn.

Legrand has had a 25-year career at Go Sport, the French sporting goods retailer that was bought by Intersport in May 2023 after it filed for judicial receivership. He began his career as shop assistant, then progressed to category manager, store manager and regional manager, until he took charge of Go Sport’s entire store and property network, a position he held from 2015 to 2022.

Jules is one of the brands owned by the Mulliez family, and this year assumed the status of ‘benefit corporation’. The menswear retailer’s goal is to sell more made-in-France products and increase the share of so-called ‘in progress’ materials (like organic cotton, recycled polyester and linen) in its collections from 50% in 2023 to 100% in 2030. Jules operates 550 stores worldwide, of which 470 in France, and in 2022 it generated a revenue of €470 million.