CHELTENHAM — Superdry cofounder James Holder was found guilty of rape by a jury at Gloucester Crown Court sitting in Cirencester following an incident after a night out in Cheltenham in May 2022. The jury acquitted Holder, 54, of a separate charge of assault by penetration.

Holder was remanded into custody ahead of sentencing after his application for bail was dismissed. He had denied the charges and said all sexual activity had been consensual.

The court heard that Holder and a male friend had been due to take a taxi back to Holder's mansion in the Cotswolds after drinks at Gin and Juice, a bar in Cheltenham. Instead, the two men got into the victim's taxi and traveled to her flat. The accuser said Holder entered her home uninvited and assaulted her after he awoke from a short nap.

The victim asked Holder to stop but he did not stop even when she began crying, the court heard, and she was vulnerable because she was intoxicated. During cross-examination, Michelle Heeley KC asked the victim, "This was a drunken sexual encounter that you regret?" The victim replied, "Incorrect."

In a police interview, Holder described himself as "old-school and chivalrous." Giving evidence in court, he said, "I did, yes. I looked after her throughout the whole evening."

Holder, a married father of two, cofounded Superdry with Julian Dunkerton in 2003 as a market stall in Cheltenham. He had previously founded the skateboarding and BMX fashion label Bench. In 2004, the pair opened Superdry's first physical store in Covent Garden, London. According to the company's website, by 2018 Superdry products were sold in 157 countries. The company was delisted from the London Stock Exchange in 2024 and rebranded as Superdry & Co.