Kornit Taps ASOS Veteran Nick Beighton for On-Demand Fashion Push

ROSH-HA'AYIN, Israel – March 19, 2026 – In a move that signals a deepening convergence between digital retail and manufacturing technology, Kornit Digital (NASDAQ: KRNT) has appointed Nick Beighton, the former Chief Executive Officer of fast-fashion giant ASOS, as a strategic advisor. The appointment, effective April 1, 2026, aims to leverage Beighton's extensive demand-side experience to accelerate the fashion industry’s pivot towards sustainable, on-demand production.

Kornit, a leader in digital textile printing technology, announced that it also plans to nominate Beighton for election to its Board of Directors at the company's 2026 Annual Shareholder Meeting. The decision places a seasoned e-commerce veteran, who intimately understands the pressures of speed, inventory, and consumer trends, directly within the strategic core of a company building the tools to revolutionize the supply chain.

“Nick's experience leading a digitally native global fashion platform gives him a powerful perspective on the realities brands and retailers face today around speed, agility, and capital efficiency,” said Ronen Samuel, Chief Executive Officer of Kornit Digital, in a statement. “As the fashion industry moves toward more demand-driven production models, his insight will help Kornit strengthen its role in enabling the next generation of global supply chains.”

A Bridge Between Demand and Supply

The appointment is widely seen as a strategic coup for Kornit. It brings a crucial 'demand-side perspective' into a technology- and manufacturing-focused organization. Beighton’s 12-year tenure at ASOS, including six as CEO, was defined by hyper-growth, scaling the company from a £200 million business into a £4 billion global e-commerce powerhouse. His leadership was characterized by a relentless focus on data to enhance customer experience and a mastery of digital transformation.

This background is precisely what Kornit needs to bridge the gap between its technological solutions and the practical needs of global fashion brands. While Kornit provides the machinery and software for on-demand production, Beighton brings firsthand knowledge of the pain points its technology aims to solve: the immense capital tied up in inventory, the environmental cost of overproduction, and the constant struggle to shorten lead times in a trend-driven market.

Beighton himself commented on this unique positioning. “Kornit sits at the center of one of the most important shifts happening in fashion today,” he stated. “The industry is moving from inventory-heavy supply chains toward more agile, demand-driven production models. The convergence of retail, manufacturing, and on-demand fulfillment is accelerating, and Kornit is uniquely positioned to enable this transformation.”

Lessons from a Fast-Fashion Titan

Beighton's journey at ASOS offers a compelling narrative for the industry's current predicament. He oversaw a period of unprecedented expansion, driven by strategies that flooded the market with “newness,” at one point adding up to 5,000 new styles per week. This model, while successful, relied on complex, global supply chains and vast inventory holdings.

However, his departure in late 2021 came as ASOS began to publicly acknowledge the very challenges its model created. The company warned of significant profit headwinds due to global supply chain disruptions, rising freight costs, and labor inflation. The fast-fashion giant, which had thrived on the pandemic-fueled e-commerce boom, was suddenly confronting the brittleness of its own supply chain. This experience provides Beighton with an invaluable, hard-won understanding of the limitations of the traditional, forecast-based production system.

His move to advise Kornit can be interpreted as a transition from managing the problems of the old system to actively building the solution for the new one. His past focus on using data for personalization at ASOS aligns perfectly with the capabilities of digital, on-demand printing, which allows for customization and small-batch production that traditional methods cannot economically support.

The On-Demand and Sustainability Imperative

The strategic alignment between Beighton and Kornit comes as the fashion industry faces a reckoning. The traditional model of producing massive quantities of clothing based on seasonal forecasts is responsible for staggering levels of waste, with an estimated 30% of all manufactured apparel never being sold. This overproduction consumes vast resources and contributes significantly to pollution and carbon emissions.

Kornit Digital has positioned itself as a key enabler of a more sustainable alternative. Its proprietary digital printing technology, including its advanced Apollo platform, facilitates a single-step, 'wet-on-wet' process that virtually eliminates water waste—a stark contrast to traditional dyeing and printing methods that are notoriously water-intensive. Kornit’s systems, which use eco-friendly, certified inks, can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by over 80% and water usage by up to 95% compared to analog processes.

By enabling brands to print and produce garments only after a customer places an order, the technology directly attacks the problem of unsold inventory. This shift from a 'push' to a 'pull' system not only has profound environmental benefits but also offers significant economic advantages by freeing up capital and reducing the financial risk associated with inventory markdowns and disposal. Beighton’s role will be to help translate these technological benefits into a compelling business case for the brands and retailers he knows so well.

This appointment strategically enhances Kornit's board, which currently boasts deep expertise in finance, technology, and operations. Beighton introduces a vital market-facing viewpoint, ensuring the company's innovation pipeline is directly informed by the evolving needs of the world's largest fashion players. As he prepares to participate in Kornit’s upcoming Konnections 2026 industry event, the message is clear: the worlds of high-speed retail and high-tech manufacturing are no longer just converging; they are actively collaborating to design the future.