"Staying relevant is the key word," said Liz Mouat, Laura Ashley's head of buying for home.
He was head of buying for Waterstones before becoming a publisher and spending several years at HarperCollins.
As Paula Stewart, head of buying at Warehouse, said, "Our target customer is aged 18-30, fashion -conscious, outgoing, confident and loves to look her best......
Vikki Brown, head of buying for the brand, says hair colour is a big factor for wig experimenters: "Dyeing is quite a commitment.
He was quickly contradicted by the head of buying for Aldi in Britain, who pledged to open a store a week and win a tenth of the market (it has 2.9% now).
Of the 55 coats on the Whistles website, 10 are bikers, and there are more than 160 available at Asos. "We've started to see the increase in popularity of biker jackets again," says Celia Cuthbert, Asos's head of buying.
We've always employed people, because of our principles on animal testing, who were politically aware, including animal rights activists," says Simon Constantine, head of buying at Lush and son of co-founder and boss Mark Constantine.
"Parents are under increasing pressure to purchase their child some sort of smartphone or tablet just so they are able to use the toy they've asked for," said Ben Redhead, head of buying at the online shop Firebox.com.
Sundari Gabriel is head of buying at Jaeger and thoroughly approves of the trend: "An easy shirt is a perfectly elegant wardrobe solution and a version in the softest silk is every woman's new go-to piece.
Along with Forsey and the head of buying, Sean Nevitt, she qualified for a £5m bonus when the company listed in 2007, after then working for Sports Direct for 15 years.
