Jigsaw hires Victoria Beckham's first employee as design director

Jigsaw has appointed Melanie Walker as design director, bringing in a designer who spent nearly a decade building Victoria Beckham's ready-to-wear business to lead product and creative direction through the next phase of its turnaround.

The appointment lands a day after the brand reported an 18 percent year-on-year sales increase for spring/summer 2026, covering the six months to July. Store sales rose 11 percent on a like-for-like basis and online grew 21 percent, split between 19 percent in the UK and 48 percent internationally. Dresses were the standout category, up 43 percent on occasion wear and print, and a yellow suit launched in March sold out inside three weeks.

Walker's brief, as the company describes it, is to sharpen a recognisable Jigsaw signature and build on the categories already selling, while making the product offer robust enough to scale across channels and into the United States.

Two decades behind other people's labels

Walker joined Victoria Beckham in 2008 as the brand's first employee, helping establish its ready-to-wear infrastructure when it was still a small capsule business. She became head of design for ready-to-wear in 2013, running mainline and pre-collections and overseeing the design and studio teams, and stayed until 2017.

Her career began at Roland Mouret, followed by Jonathan Saunders and then Freda, the in-house womenswear label at Matches Fashion, where she was head of design. Since 2017 she has worked independently, consulting for Hurlingham 1875, Alice Made This and Paper London, and most recently leading a uniform redesign for travel company Abercrombie & Kent as part of its brand repositioning.

"It is a great honour to join Jigsaw as design director," Walker said. "I have always been inspired by the rich history of this British brand and its strong connection to arts and culture. Excellent quality, fit and fabric will be at the forefront of every design decision."

Tikki Godley, managing director, said she had followed Walker's career for years and expected her to "bring a creative and modern vision to Jigsaw, inspired by our rich history making clothes for people who care about how clothes are made: quality, fit and fabric, and a commitment to backing British design."