Conversation with… Will Sheane, chief executive of Finisterre
Here we chat with Will Sheane about his incredible career to date, which has taken him from management consulting in Australia to heading up Finisterre, the responsibly made outdoor clothing brand. He also shares his insights on sustainable growth, leadership, and the brand’s mission to build a community rooted in connection to the sea.
Can you tell us about your career before joining Finisterre?
My career has been a bit of an adventure, to be honest. I spent nearly ten years living in Australia, which was a formative time for me. I had just graduated from the University of Sydney and jumped straight into management consulting. My first job was with a boutique firm which was built by some ex-McKinsey partners. It was a small team but incredibly sharp, and I was lucky to work on some very high-level, strategic projects, mostly across Australia.
After a few years, I was sponsored to go to business school. I studied at INSEAD, which was an amazing experience. After that, the plan was to return to Australia as I loved the lifestyle. But life had other plans. I met someone – she was from Europe – and we ended up relocating.
Never Miss a Retail Update!That move eventually led me to London, where I joined BCG’s retail and consumer practice. It was a shift from the kind of work I’d been doing in Australia – less growth and M&A, more large-scale transformation and operational work. Still valuable, but it sparked a desire in me to get closer to brand-building and entrepreneurship.
After several years in consulting, I felt this pull to get closer to the action, to be part of building something tangible. That’s when I joined Active Partners – an interesting group that at the time, sat somewhere between a traditional VC and a business operator, taking meaningful stakes in emerging consumer brands like Rapha, Soho House, LEON. I spent about six years there – we raised various funds and backed some great businesses. It was super exciting to be part of that.
So how did the move to Finisterre happen?
I had known Tom Kay, the founder of Finisterre, for a while. Active Partners had invested when the business was still really small. I got increasingly involved around 2019 during a capital raise. I worked very closely with Tom through that and formally joined the board at the same time. I’d always loved the brand – what it stood for, its values, and the connection to nature and the sea. It really resonated with me on a personal level. I grew up between Ireland and England, and spend a lot of my teenage years obsessed with surfing that rugged North Atlantic coastline. It all just clicked.
In 2020, Tom started looking for a new CEO. I decided to throw my hat in the ring, and after a long process, I stepped into the role in early 2021 – right in the middle of the pandemic. Retail was still shut and we were all navigating lockdowns. It was a wild time to take the reins, but also a very clear opportunity to help steer a brand I really believed in through uncertain waters.
And how’s the journey been so far as chief executive?
Challenging, but incredibly rewarding. We’ve done a lot of work aligning our values with our operations, staying true to our roots while thinking about how to grow sustainably. Finisterre has always stood for purpose and planet – my job is to make sure that mission carries forward as we scale.
Did you see a big surge of growth during the pandemic?
There was a huge surge in demand in 2020. Everyone was locked in, and like many businesses, we saw that people still had more disposable income to spend than they expected. And less things to spend it on.
So yes, it was a good period for us.
2021 continued strongly with healthy growth, but trading started to normalise in the back end of the year. By 2022, it felt like things were returning to a more “normal” rhythm – almost around the time the Ukraine war started. But we’ve been on the right side of a lot of key trends, so we’ve kept growing really well. We’re about three times the size now versus when I started.
What’s driving that growth?
I think we have a proposition that really resonates with a lot of people. More so today than ever before. Our community value great quality product, that’s responsibly made and is built to last. We see that in our repeat rate which is really strong. Once you find the brand, there’s so much substance and things to engage with that we find people keep coming back. We are very community focussed.
Are you growing your physical retail presence as part of that strategy?
Yes. Finisterre started as a direct-to-consumer brand – just online, back in the early days of ecommerce. Over time, we’ve added other channels, and retail has become a big part of that.
We paused new store openings during COVID while figuring out what was going on, but we’re back in growth mode with 11 shops now.
We’ve just opened in Cambridge and Cardiff, and then another store on the south coast between Poole and Bournemouth will follow shortly after that. Our retail stores aren’t just about sales, they’re brand hubs. Places where you can really immerse yourself in the brand, and importantly, where our community can gather for events, film tours, talks and community gatherings.
Is the UK still the primary focus?
The UK is our core, but our plan is to move from a UK-based direct brand to a global, omnichannel one.
Right now, North America is our focus. We’ve been building that over the last 12–18 months. We brought on Chris Evans, who was previously at Patagonia, and he’s been phenomenal. He’s incredibly aligned with our values – passionate about the ocean, conservation and sustainability..
At the moment, we are focussing hard on wholesale because we see a big opportunity there and are getting great traction with some amazing retailers. We’ve got around 20–30 partners now – all tastemaker accounts, all with great communities. We’re super grateful to be working with them.
Eventually, we’d love to open stores in North America, but that’s not something we’re actively exploring yet. Maybe in the next few years.
Are you planning to expand the product range or diversify into new categories?
Our focus is on building strength in the areas we’re already good at. So instead of branching into totally new sectors, we double down on where we’re strong.
A great example is our Nimbus jacket – it’s been a hero product for years. We’ve just revamped it this year with NetPlus, a fully traceable recycled fabric made from fishing nets pulled from the ocean, mostly in Chile, working with the team at Bureo.
So, we’re continually strengthening existing products and building around these heroes rather than chasing new categories.
How would you describe your leadership style and how has your career influenced the way you lead today?
I think I try to be open and transparent with the team. We’ve got a lot of super talented people in the business, so I try to create an environment where everyone can thrive -where they feel comfortable challenging each other, being creative, and contributing meaningfully. It’s collaborative.
Personally, I’m also quite focused on the fundamentals of the business. That might come from my consulting background. I really like to break things down – what does success look like for this initiative, or for that product? What do we need to change to make it work? That kind of thinking.
And I try to keep things simple. We focus on a short list of big priorities and make sure the whole team is aligned behind them. So, open culture, clear strategy, and a focus on the basics.
It sounds like your leadership style is both relaxed and deliberate. Would you say that’s fair?
Yes, I’d say so. It’s relaxed in tone maybe, but not in energy. I mean, you’d see that if you came to our HQ in Wheal Kitty in Cornwall. There are dogs around, surfboards by the door… the office is literally on an old mining site above the cliffs near the beach. It’s beautiful, and it has this easy-going, natural vibe to it. That said, we’re very driven.
We talk a lot internally about drive. One of our values is to Keep Charging. It’s a phrase that has a link to surfing big waves, but it’s also related to just the need to keep pushing yourself, to get it done. Being on the edge of the North Atlantic means we’re pretty isolated – we don’t bump into competitors on the street or see other businesses down the road. You have to be self-motivated. So, yes, the environment is relaxed, but the people here are incredibly driven.
Finsiterre sounds like an amazing place to work, but how do you find and attract the right talent, being so remote?
We’ve been very lucky. There are a few apparel businesses in this part of the UK, so we do have a bit of local talent. But for some more specialist roles, we either relocate people, which is always a big, considered decision, or we work remotely.
That flexibility came out of the pandemic experience in 2020, and we’ve held onto it. Communication is key to making that work. Every Tuesday we do something called Sea Tuesday. Everyone starts an hour later – we’ll go for a surf or swim together in the morning, and then at 10am we all gather at Wheal Kitty for our weekly all hands meeting. Retail teams and remote workers will dial in. So it’s a great way to allow people to connect to the sea, and also maintaining that sense of unity, wherever people are.
Let’s talk about the Finisterre Foundation. Can you tell us how it came about and what its focus is?
The Finisterre Foundation is a CIC (Community Interest Company) we set up about four years ago. It’s focused on equal access to the sea.
Our purpose at Finisterre is to inspire a deeper connection to the sea. And the Foundation was born from a desire to help everyone access it, regardless of background or ability.
We do that in small, powerful ways. We fund local initiatives in communities that resonate with the Foundation’s mission. And we also run our own initiatives that help people access the sea. One great example is our adaptive wetsuits programme A wetsuit can be a barrier for many people – for instance, people with amputations or other physical disabilities. So we will adapt wetsuits specifically for their needs. longer or additional zips, easier access, amputation adjustments, etc.. It’s amazing to see what a massive impact it can have on people’s lives.
How do you support these initiatives?
Some funding comes directly from product sales. For example, a portion from every wetsuit sale goes into the Foundation for the wetsuit programme. We also run special campaigns. Instead of Black Friday, we do Blue Friday. We donate proceeds to specific causes – sometimes linked to the Foundation, but also for other organisations that we want to promote like Surfrider Foundation or Surfers Against Sewage.
It’s a flexible model – we can shift focus depending on what needs attention – but it’s all about the ocean and ensuring people can experience and protect it.
It’s rare to see such a strong blend of purpose and business. It must be a rewarding place to lead.
It is. It’s hard work, but it’s meaningful and fun. People come here because they care – about the mission, the values, and the planet. And that’s an inspiring environment to be part of.
