Sacked Smiggle boss John Cheston denies misconduct as mystery around his exit deepens

The sacked boss of Premier Investments’ kids stationery juggernaut Smiggle has denied allegations he was embroiled in any workplace misconduct.

The Solomon Lew-led Premier earlier on Monday announced John Cheston had been dumped as chief executive of Smiggle just three months after he was poached by rival billionaire retail magnate Brett Blundy to run global jewellery chain Lovisa.

Just Group — which is part of Premier and owns the Smiggle, Peter Alexander, Portmans and Jay Jays brands — said Mr Cheston was allegedly found to have engaged in serious misconduct, leading to the immediate end of his employment. Details of the alleged misconduct were not revealed.

“The Just Group board considers that Mr John Cheston has engaged in serious misconduct and a serious breach of his employment terms and on that basis his employment has been terminated today,” the statement read.

Hours later, Mr Cheston issued a statement via a spokeswoman denying any misconduct.

“John Cheston resigned from his employment with the Just Group on 3 June providing 12 months’ notice before he would commence his employment as the chief executive officer of Lovisa Holdings,” it said.

“The allegations of misconduct are categorically denied by Mr Cheston.”

Mr Cheston has been in the top job at Smiggle for more than a decade and earlier this year was lured by Lovisa to replace outgoing chief executive Victor Herrero in June 2025.

Premier the same day was also forced to issue a trading update after leaked financial documents revealed all of Premier’s apparel brands — which also includes Just Jeans, Dotti and Jacqui E — have suffered negative sales growth.

It comes as Premier explores a tie-up with Myer, which could see the apparel brands sold to the department store.

The leaked documents to The Australian revealed Portmans recorded the biggest slump in sales between January and July, down 10 per cent to $68 million. This was followed by Jacqui E, which posted an 8.3 per cent slide to $33.3m over the period.

It also revealed Portmans at one point in the second half was as much as $5.7m behind budget, or nearly 15 per cent.

Premier’s trading update on Monday said it expects total global sales for its retail division to hit $1.6 billion for the 2024 financial year, down from 2023’s $1.64b. Estimated operating earnings is expected to hit a total of $341m, but Premier did not reveal the earnings split between the brands.

Mr Cheston’s sacking has further complicated Mr Lew and the board’s potential plan to demerge Smiggle to become an independently listed ASX company by the start of next year.

It’s not the first time Mr Cheston has had a bitter departure as CEO of a major retailer, having led men’s and women’s clothing brand Country Road for less than three months before leaving in 2010.

After the termination of his employment, Mr Cheston sued the company in Federal Court, with Country Road eventually agreeing to pay him $1.1m in a settlement.

Premier shares were down nearly 5 per cent to $33.545 just before 11am on Monday.