From Grief to Growth: Jackie Kruger’s Leadership Through BlackMilk’s Toughest Year | 508

In this episode of Add To Cart, we go behind the scenes of one of Australia’s most iconic fashion brands, BlackMilk Clothing, with CEO Jackie Kruger. Known for its cult following of ‘Sharkies’ and famous collaborations with global brands like Netflix and Final Fantasy, BlackMilk has built a community as passionate as they are loyal. Jackie shares how she navigated the brand’s toughest year yet — facing the sudden passing of founder James Lillis, shifting to a new go-to-market strategy, and leading a high-stakes replatform to Shopify. Along the way, she reveals the power of community, the challenge of change, and how BlackMilk is laying the foundation for its next era.

This episode was brought to you by: 

Shopify Plus

Klaviyo

About your guest:

CEO of BlackMilk Clothing, Jackie Kruger is an experienced executive, passionate about creating places that people love to be. Whether that’s within the BlackMilk team, online, or in the broader community, she works across the business to drive growth and high performance. WIth strong global experience in the fashion, retail, and technology sectors, Jackie is highly commercial with a broad remit and solid strategic capability across People, IT, Ecommerce, and Distribution. She holds a Bachelor of Business Communication from the University of Queensland, a Master’s in Human Resource Management from London Metropolitan University and is a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

About your host: 

Nathan Bush is the host of the Add To Cart podcast and a leading ecommerce transformation consultant. He has led eCommerce for businesses with revenue $100m+ and has been recognised as one of Australia’s Top 50 People in eCommerce four years in a row. You can contact Nathan on LinkedIn, Twitter or via email