Biography
Andrew Keith is chief executive of Selfridges, and former president of Lane Crawford and Joyce Group.
The Lane Crawford Joyce Group played an integral role in the introduction of western brands to China and is Asia’s most influential multi-brand retailer. Keith managed Lane Crawford’s continuing expansion into mainland China. In his first week of office, he announced three additional stores to be opened in Shanghai, Beijing and Chengdu, in addition to the company’s existing Beijing location.
Keith joined Lane Crawford in 2001 from G2000 and U2, where he was design director for menswear. Hired by Balbina Wong to head up the “under-potentialised” menswear department, Keith’s success in realising the department’s success earmarked the executive for a high level position early on. He became vice president of merchandising in 2006, a position that was instrumental to the market positioning of Lane Crawford, when its first mainland China store opened in Beijing in 2007.
In 2008, Keith became president of Joyce, allowing him and his team to be “as creative and risk-taking and experimental as we want. Joyce and Lane Crawford are iconic brands with very different personalities and customers, so we have the ability to create different experiences for them.” In one example of his creativity, Keith called upon Sarah Burton to stage an Alexander McQueen runway show in Beijing. During his tenure at Joyce, Keith secured franchise agreements for what would become the company’s most successful retail brands: Rick Owens , Balenciaga and Alexander McQueen .
Appointed managing director of Selfridges in February 2021, Keith brings his breadth of experience in the fashion industry as he takes responsibility for the company’s UK retail stores, and online business.
Under Keith’s leadership, Selfridges continues to pioneer an innovative and inspiring brand and experience driven offer across all touchpoints. Building on his experience in multi-brand and multi-channel retail, Keith is focused on leading Selfridges into the future with creativity and sustainability at its heart and a clear ambition to change the way we shop and do business.
Keith first visited China as a child; his family would travel overland from Borneo, where his father was stationed, on the way to their native Scotland for two months of annual leave. Keith was sent to boarding school in Scotland where, whilst cleaning his dormitory, he came upon a copy of i-D magazine, which sparked his interest in fashion, which he would go on to study at university.
“It felt like I had come full circle when I took i-D's 'Soul' exhibition to Joyce in Beijing.”