Richard Surman announces Crew Clothing Company departure as he takes on Technical Director role at URBN

URBN, a portfolio of brands comprised of Anthropologie, Anthropologie Weddings, Free People, FP Movement, Terrain, Urban Outfitters, Nuuly, Reclectic, and Menus & Venues, has appointed Richard Surman as Technical Director.

He joins from Crew Clothing Company where he served as IT Director. His CV also includes stints at Oasis Fashion, Whistles, and Reiss.

Surman took on the role of IT Director at Crew Clothing Company in January. He joined the retailer in 2020 and previously served as Head of IT, with responsibility for providing business critical IT services for a user base encompassing 150+ head office staff, 450+ user accounts and 100+ retail outlets distributed throughout the UK.

Datitude

In April, we reported that Crew Clothing Company had selected Datitude as its core data partner. 

This forms part of its multi-year strategic IT transformation project; replacing legacy technology with a range of systems and applications. This includes Origin (product platform) and Archean (stock management) from Retail247, BigCommerce (e-commerce) and PMC’s Graphene (store PoS).

The partnership will see Datitude’s platform being deployed as the middleware to integrate data, automate data flows and manage data storage across its core systems. The platform will also power complete, accurate and up-to-date data feeds from all channels to Workday Financials to enable better, business wide reporting and insights.

Surman said: “Datitude has a strong reputation in the retail industry for its data expertise, client relationships and project delivery. Having worked with them at a previous company, I know they can be trusted to deliver against our requirements.” 

Crew’s IT transformation programme is expanding to its sister companies - Ben Sherman, Pringle of Scotland and Saltrock. It’s part of the group’s plans to adopt common systems, simplify data architectures and streamline integrations - removing unnecessary complexity and cost associated with systems integrations and fragmented data, whilst having the right functionality to deliver the best possible customer experiences. As a result, Datitude’s platform will be deployed across all four brands.

2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

IT transformation projects will be a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards, which are now open for entries, celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering. 

For further information on the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards, please fill in the below form and we will get back to you asap.