The Board of Leeds Group announced the appointment of Jörg Hemmers as an executive director of the Company with immediate effect. Jörg has over 25 years' experience in the wholesale and retail textile business, having started his career as a partner of Hemmers GmbH. During this time, he rapidly and profitably grew the business after being one of the first in the trade to realise the potential of sourcing products from China.

Leeds Group acquired the Hemmers wholesale operation in 1999 and appointed Jörg as Managing Director. Jörg retained a financial interest in the retail operation until 2010, but has since focused entirely on profitable growth of the wholesale business. Amongst his achievements is the successful integration in 2003 of the Leeds Group Itex business, based in Holland, to create Hemmers/Itex GmbH, and the successful acquisition and integration of KMT, a small wholesaler in 2006.

In 2007, Jörg successfully established ChinohTex, a subsidiary based in Shanghai which continues to grow profitably.