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London – Mark Worth, the digital media and fashion entrepreneur who founded WGSN and Stylus Media Group, has died at the age of 61.
Worth died of a heart attack, his family said. His funeral will take place on Tuesday.
A genius and rogue entrepreneur who quickly grasped the predictive power of data, digital news and forecasting for creative industries, Worth began his career in apparel manufacturing.
Later he turned his attention to the fashion industry to gather trends and intelligence. In the year In 1997, with his older brother Julian, Worth founded the Global Style Network, WGSN, for fashion professionals seeking information, analysis and research on retail, product and style trends.
In the year In 2005, the Worth brothers sold WGSN to the now defunct Imap for £140 million. Today, WGSN is a division of Ascential, a data and ecommerce development company.
Five years later—after a failed attempt to retire—Worth founded Stiles, which tracks and analyzes business trends in a variety of industries, including fashion and beauty, electronics, home and industrial design, architecture and advertising.
Hearst would later take a 20 percent stake in Stylus Media Group.
Last year, Worth became executive chairman of Stylus after serving as CEO for more than a decade.
“His irrepressible presence and sense of humor will leave an indelible mark on our business and the industry for years to come,” said Stylus CEO Victoria Rennie Worthen. Many of us at Styles have worked with Mark for decades and his loss is sorely missed.
Rennie added, “We will continue to work to grow and develop the business that Mark founded, as I know he would want us to do. Our thoughts and deepest condolences are with the entire Worth family at this very sad time.
In the year In 2007, Worth returned to the fashion scene by reviving the Ossie Clarke label, which had shown for a few seasons at London Fashion Week.
“I thought it would be a fun and exciting project,” Worth told WWD at the time. The main reason British designers fail today is simple – finance. I’ve been in the clothing business for 30 years, and thought this would be a great way to give something back to the British fashion industry.
Worth had an exclusive licensing agreement with Alfred Radley, who had bought Clark’s business in the late sixties.
He said he was impressed by Radley’s “100 percent meticulous” archive, which includes 700 garments, and wanted a chance to revive it. Worth’s plan was to invest a “seven-figure sum” in the business.
To continue Clarke’s creative legacy, Worth chose Avsh Alom Gur, who has worked for Donna Karan, Roberto Cavalli, Khloé and Nicole Farhi, to lead the design team.
Worth wanted Clark’s business to be the first in its portfolio of brands. “My passion is to give back to the British fashion industry,” he said.
But it was not to be. In the year Worth closed the account following the 2008 recession, the deepest recession the UK has seen since World War II.
Worth was born in Nottingham, England and had homes in England and Israel. In the year In 2011 he became Chair of UK Israel Business, a merger of the former British-Israel Chamber of Commerce and the British Chamber of Commerce in Israel.
He was also a trustee of the Tel Aviv Foundation and chairman of TLVinLDN. In the year Since 2013, he has served as chairman of the board of governors of Israel’s Shenkar College, investing in new businesses and mentoring young entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds.
He is the mother of his children Patty, Max, Henry and Louis with his wife Kelly and ex-wife Hilda. Worth’s other survivors include his brother, Julia; sister Erica, and grandchildren Eddie, Jack and Margot.
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