moving forward, his vision for the brand, the expected challenges ahead and his biggest leadership lessons from building a stationery empire. Inside Retail: You joined Typo in December last year. What have the first five months in the role been like?  Scott Druce: It’s been an incredible introduction to the world of Typo. I’ve hit the ground running, truly immersing myself in the business, trading through peak season and travelling to meet the team and customers in almost all the 10 countries where we have stores. There is a lot of talent within the business and the energy of the team and passion for the brand have been clear from the get go. Together we’ve been looking at where we sit in the market and where we want to be in the future. It’s an exciting time, as it’s clear there is an opportunity to take the brand to new heights.  What has also been interesting is understanding the wider Cotton On business. With eight lifestyle and fashion brands, 1500 stores, 20,000 team members across 22 countries, and a progressive and impactful Foundation, it truly is a global business based out of our Global Support Centre in Geelong, Australia. This global impact and reach are rare in Australian-born retail.    IR: Can you tell me about your vision for the next chapter of Typo?  SD: It’s pretty amazing to think Typo has been around for only 15 years – we’ve come so far in such a short time. We’re still young and hungry. It’s all about figuring out what our next big move should be. The team has been looking back at what made us a runaway success story and focusing on our customer to unlock that next evolution. We’ll be developing exciting new products that will continue to surprise and delight our customers; we will elevate our offer, look and feel. We will invest in new talent within the business and continue to make a positive impact on people’s lives with the Cotton On Foundation. The future’s looking bright, and we can’t wait to see where this next chapter takes us.  IR: Are the size and scale of Typo intimidating or exciting when you think about executing this vision?  SD: Sure, there are challenges that come with operating on this scale. Co-ordinating across different markets, cultures and time zones can be complex. But that’s also what makes it so thrilling. We have this amazing opportunity to bring our vision to life on a global stage.    Our vision for Typo is to build upon the strong heritage and success of the brand, which has focused on creating a product that is “anything but ordinary” and become number one in the world for what we do by complementing that with a product that “helps you become extraordinary”. This vision is possible only because of the size and scale of the Cotton On business that Typo is a part of. It is truly an entrepreneurial business, with a growth mindset embedded in the culture.  IR: You’ve recently landed Typo’s new strategy. Could you break down the brand’s top priorities moving forward?  SD: Our goal is to continue building a brand our customers love and a product they’ll use proudly every day. We’ll be refining our product strategy to deliver for our customer and also shifting digital strategy to enable global audience growth with the aim of positioning us as a market leader.   One part of the strategy we’re really excited about is an all-new physical store experience that will elevate the brand and create high-traffic destination retail stores. We can’t reveal too much just yet, but we’ll deliver a fresh new elevated shopping experience – watch this space.  IR: With those objectives in mind, what do you predict will be the brand’s biggest challenges or hurdles?  SD: Staying relevant and exciting to our core audience while also attracting new customers is a constant balancing act. We need to keep our finger on the pulse of what’s hot without losing our unique Typo identity.  IR: You spent over a decade building an omnichannel customer experience at Milligram. How are you approaching improving Typo’s omnichannel shopping experience?  SD: We’re refreshing our planning approach and introducing design thinking methodologies to ensure our Typo customer continues to be at the heart of everything we do. We’re also introducing aligned global campaigns with local relevance, giving us the ability to tell stories and market our brand across platforms in a more agnostic way.  IR: You mentioned that you are now focused on building out the team to land Typo’s new strategy, what are you looking for?  SD: We have a huge growth journey planned for the coming years, positioning Typo as the global leader in our core categories (stationery, travel, lifestyle product, and gifting). As well as developing existing talent, we’ll be looking for passionate product and marketing people to join our team as we focus on product innovation and excellence. Creating the right culture is important for this and I’m committed to helping create a high-performance, impactful and fun work environment as our team comes together to take our vision to the world.  IR: What do you think Typo has been known for historically and what do you hope it will be known for in the future?  SD: Typo at its core has always been known as a stationery brand and a destination for products with a fun, unexpected and not so serious take on life. Our opportunity is to reinvigorate this identity to become the global leader in the categories we stand for, solving the needs and wants of our customer, always.   IR: How has your leadership style evolved since founding Milligram and stepping into the role of general manager at Typo?  SD: I was really proud of the culture I was able to create at Milligram. We executed an awesome environment for our customers, all with a small team of passionate people who loved the brand and product we sold. At Typo, it’s a step up in terms of scale, so I’ve had to adjust my leadership style to work with a larger team. It’s important to be curious, to listen and to empower the team. I’m learning and growing every day, which is exciting on the personal leadership front, and it has been a great experience working with the Typo team and Cotton On business leaders to create our future vision for the brand.