Julian Marc Dunkerton (born March 1965) is a British businessman, and the co-founder of the

fashion label Fashion design is the Art (skill), art of applying design, aesthetics, clothing construction and natural beauty to clothing and its Fashion accessory, accessories. It is influenced by culture and different trends, and has varied over time and plac ...

Superdry Superdry plc (stylised as SUPERDRY®︎冒険魂) is a UK branded clothing company, and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry products combine vintage American styling with Japanese-inspired graphics. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange ...

Early life

Dunkerton's father Ivor and stepmother Susie founded and ran Dunkertons Organic Cider. Dunkerton moved to

Herefordshire Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouthsh ...

from London at the age of 14. He was educated at

Ibstock Place School Ibstock Place School is an independent co-educational day school for pupils aged 4–18 located in Roehampton, southwest London. It was founded as the Froebel Demonstration School, owing to its affiliation with the Froebel Institute and the d ...

, London,

Orleans Park School Orleans Park School is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in Twickenham area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It is situated 10 miles south-west of central London. Performance As with other s ...

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

, from 11 to 14, and then the Minster School, Herefordshire.

Career

At the age of 19, Dunkerton, along with his then business partner Ian Hibbs, founded the fashion retail chain Cult Clothing Co with a £2,000 loan. In 2014, Dunkerton took control of his family's cider company, and brought in business partner Jeremy Benson (aka Bean), to work alongside his father Ivor, developing his palate and learning the craft of organic cider and perry making. In 2016, Dunkertons Organic Cider was moved from

to a brand new cidery at the 250-acre Dowdeswell Park, near Cheltenham in

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. In 2015, Dunkerton stepped down as chief executive of Superdry and was replaced by Euan Sutherland. Dunkerton left Superdry in April 2018 to concentrate on his other business interests. He owns The Lucky Onion group, which operates a small group of hotels, restaurants and pubs in the Cotswolds, England. In April 2019, Sutherland resigned as CEO of SuperGroup plc after Dunkerton won a bid to be reinstated to the SuperGroup plc board.

Political activism

In the early 1990s, Dunkerton stood three times as a Labour Party candidate in the Cheltenham Borough Council elections. He stood in the St. Peter's ward in 1990, and in the Park ward in 1991 and 1992. In August 2018, Dunkerton donated £1 million to

People's Vote People's Vote was a United Kingdom campaign group that unsuccessfully campaigned for a second referendum following the UK's Brexit vote to leave the European Union (EU) in 2016. The group was launched in April 2018 at which four Members of Pa ...

, a campaign group calling for a public vote on the final

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC ...

deal between the UK and the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

. He believes that the success of the Superdry business could not have occurred if Britain had been outside the European Union at the time. In the 2019 general election, he voted for the Liberal Democrats.

Personal life

Dunkerton lives in Cheltenham. In February 2016, he sold just under £50 million of shares to fund his divorce settlement with his wife, Charlotte Abbot. They had two children, one stepdaughter and one daughter. In 2016, Dunkerton began dating fashion designer

Jade Holland Cooper Jade Abigail Holland Cooper (born 1986) is a British fashion designer. Early life Her father, Oliver Cooper, is a farmer in Suffolk, and her mother, Miranda (''née'' Holland), worked in London and Paris as a designer, making clothes for Elton J ...

after they met in the bar at one of his hotels in Cheltenham. They went on to marry in August 2018 in the Cotswolds where

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single " Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ''Born to Do It'', was released in 2000, after which he has re ...

sang and

Idris Elba Idrissa Akuna Elba (; born 6 September 1972) is an English actor.

deejayed. They have one child, Saphaïa Isabella Dunkerton, born November 2020. He owns a private jet, which he describes as "a tool rather than an indulgence".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunkerton, Julian 1965 births Living people British retail company founders Labour Party (UK) politicians People from Cheltenham People educated at Ibstock Place School People educated at Orleans Park School