Universal Store Holdings has a new group managing director and chief executive, and he started out on the shop floor. George Do took over on Sunday 1 November, succeeding Alice Barbery, who retired on 31 October.

Two decades inside the business

According to the company’s succession announcement in April, Mr Do joined Universal Store in 2005, beginning on the store floor. After completing a Bachelor of Commerce at the University of Queensland in 2009 he was appointed Menswear Buyer, and in 2011 he was promoted to Head of Product, where he established the private brand department, including the in-house product design and development team. He became CEO of the Universal Store and Perfect Stranger banners on 1 March 2025.

“George’s appointment reflects his outstanding contribution to the Group over 20 years, the confidence in the current Group strategy and the importance of sustaining the Group’s unique culture and operating model,” chair Peter Birtles said. “George has been a member of the Company’s executive leadership team for 15 years, he is highly regarded by the UNI team and over the last 13 months, his performance in the role of CEO of the Universal Store and Perfect Stranger has clearly demonstrated his capability to lead the wider Group.”

The business he inherits

Mr Do takes charge of a group that, lifted FY26 revenue 12.9% to $376.1 million and underlying net profit 16.3% to $40.5 million. Statutory net profit fell 21.6% to $18.2 million, mainly because of impairment charges on CTC goodwill and the THRILLS brand name.

In the first 17 weeks of FY27, to 25 October, group direct-to-customer sales rose 9.3%:

  • Universal Store: sales up 6.6%, with like-for-like sales up 2.8%.
  • Perfect Stranger: sales up 36.8%, with like-for-like sales up 11.6%.
  • CTC: sales up 2.9%, but like-for-like sales down 0.7%, and its wholesale channel, about 4% of group sales, remains challenging.

“It has been a pleasing start to the year, with positive LFL growth in a challenging macroeconomic environment and against strong prior year comparatives,” Ms Barbery said in her final trading update. Five new stores have opened so far this year, seven more are due before Christmas, and the group is sticking to guidance of 16 to 20 new stores in FY27.

A gradual handover

Ms Barbery, who has been associated with Universal Store for 24 years and was its chief executive from 2017, is not going far. She will provide consulting support to Mr Do on the CTC business, join its advisory board, and become a non-executive director of the group on 1 February 2027.

The test for Mr Do is immediate: keep Perfect Stranger’s momentum, fix CTC, and steer a youth fashion business through a Christmas in which a fifth rate rise has just landed on household budgets.

Sources: Universal Store Holdings ASX announcement, “Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Succession” (14 April 2026); Universal Store FY27 year-to-date trading update (27 October 2026); Business News Australia (27 October 2026).