A woman raped by former Superdry co-founder James Holder while working for him has warned that workplace power imbalances can stop victims of abuse coming forward, saying she feared reporting him because he controlled her livelihood.
Speaking to the BBC in her first media interview since Holder was jailed for eight years in May, the woman, whose identity is protected by law, said she returned to work days after the attack and had to face him as if nothing had happened.
Holder, 54, left Superdry in 2016. He was convicted of raping the woman over an attack that took place in 2022 while she was employed by another business he had founded after leaving the fashion retailer.
The woman, referred to by the BBC as Gemma, said she felt trapped because Holder was “the person [who is] paying your wage every month” and feared reporting him could damage her future career.
“You don’t know what Monday will bring. You don’t know what Tuesday or Wednesday will bring. And for me, it was kind of more of a moment of being completely destabilised,” she said.
‘Accountable to no one’
Gemma said she returned to work in “survival mode” and that Holder spoke to her “very much like he would have spoken to me the week before”, despite the assault.
“It just shows him for what he is. It’s a power trip,” she said. She described a workplace where there was “no room for mistakes” and employees were kept on “high alert”, adding that Holder was “accountable to no one”.
“He had free rein of his own behaviours and that’s not unique to just this industry. That sort of entitlement because they are in a position of power is incredibly dangerous in a work environment.”
Gemma also said she delayed reporting the rape because she feared Holder’s influence within the fashion industry could affect her future employment. “I felt there was certainly a risk that this would affect my future prospects in finding work,” she told the BBC.
The company where she worked entered liquidation days after the attack, removing the immediate concern that reporting the offence could jeopardise her job.
Leadership lessons
The case comes as employers face greater scrutiny over workplace culture following the introduction of a new legal duty requiring organisations to take reasonable steps to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
Gemma said she believed the abuse she experienced reflected wider problems linked to power and leadership.
“The leadership structure of most fashion brands are quite male-dominated and then a lot of the working people are female,” she said. “There’s a level of control and there’s a level of power and trust that just gets completely exploited.”
She added that misogynistic behaviour remained a problem within parts of the industry and urged other victims to come forward. “I did not ask for what happened to me. That was not on me. That is completely his responsibility,” she said.
Following Holder’s sentencing, Detective Constable Elle MacLeod, who led the Gloucestershire Police investigation, said Gemma’s decision to report the offence had potentially prevented other people from becoming victims.
MacLeod said she hoped the case demonstrated that “no one is above the law, regardless of your status, wealth or power”.
A spokesperson for Superdry told the BBC that Holder resigned as a director and employee of the company in 2016, and that consultancy work with the business ended in 2019. The spokesperson added that the case related to an incident in 2022, “long after any role with Superdry had ended”.
William Furney is a Managing Editor at Black and White Trading Ltd based in Kingston upon Hull, UK. He is a prolific author and contributor at Workplace Wellbeing Professional, with over 127 published posts covering HR, employee engagement, and workplace wellbeing topics. His writing focuses on contemporary employment issues including pension schemes, employee health, financial struggles affecting workers, and broader workplace trends.
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
- William Furney
