The Edinburgh Woollen Mill | |
Company type | Private limited company |
Industry | Retail |
Founded | 1946 |
Founder | Drew Stevenson |
Headquarters | Carlisle, England, UK |
Area served | United Kingdom |
Key people | David Stevenson (proprietor of first retail store) Steve Simpson (Chief executive officer) |
Products | Clothing, gifts and souvenirs |
Revenue | £88.7 million (2019) [1] |
£14 million (2019) [1] | |
£11.9 million (2019) [1] | |
Owner | Purepay Retail |
Number of employees | 3,579 |
Parent | Purepay Retail |
Subsidiaries | Ponden Homes Bonmarché |
Website | www |
Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) is a Carlisle-based retailer specialising in clothing, along with interests in homewares and destination shopping for tourists. It was previously owned by the Dubai-based British billionaire Philip Day. [2] [3] [4]
The company's core Edinburgh Woollen Mill stores have traditionally targeted men and women over the age of 40, [5] but the business has expanded into new markets in recent years, most notably through the acquisition of value fashion retailer Peacocks in 2012.
In May 2018, Edinburgh Woollen Mill announced plans to move their HQ from Langholm to Carlisle. [6] [7]
The company was founded in 1946 by Drew Stevenson as the Langholm Dyeing and Finishing Company Limited, dyeing wool yarn to order. His eldest son David, until recently the chairman of the EWM Group, opened the first retail store in Randolph Place, Edinburgh, in 1970. In 1972, the first English store was opened in Carlisle. [8] [9]
Having been owned by several equity holdings over the previous decade the company was bought out by the newly formed EWM Group and was then subject to a secondary, management takeover in 2002, led by the current chief executive, Phillip Day.[ citation needed ]
In 2011, the group bought Jane Norman out of administration, having bought Ponden Mills, and merged it with 80 stores bought from the collapsed Rosebys home furnishings store to create Ponden Home.[ citation needed ]
On 22 February 2012, it was announced that EWM had purchased the Peacocks clothing retail brand along with 388 stores and concessions, its headquarters and logistics functions. [10] [11] Although over 200 stores were not acquired at this time, the chain has embarked on a programme of expansion since.
In 2016 EWM purchased the Austin Reed brand, the British fashion retailer founded in 1900,[ citation needed ]
EWM placed Jane Norman into administration in June 2014, but retained the brand and stock to sell as an online-only business. [12]
In May 2017, it was understood that EWM had bought the Jaeger brand and debt (but not the main company, or payments to its suppliers) from its former owner, Better Capital. [13] [14]
In May 2017, EWM opened the first Days (department store), in what had been the BHS premises in Guildhall Square, Carmarthen, which will house Peacocks, Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Ponden Home, Jane Norman, and Austin Reed brands. [15] [16] This is intended to be the first of a chain of Days department stores. [13]
In May 2020, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association in a letter to Philip Day had warned that they would blacklist EWM for non-payment of suppliers in Bangladesh and not returning their calls. [17] [18] The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in orders being cancelled or retailers asking for heavy discounts which led to workers going without pay or being fired. [19]
In November 2020, Edinburgh Woollen Mill was placed into administration. [20]
In January 2021, it was announced that Marks & Spencer had acquired the Jaeger fashion brand but not Jaeger's 63 shops and 13 concessions, for £5 million. [21] [22]
In January 2021, it was announced that Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Ponden Homes and Bonmarché had been bought out of administration by an international consortium of investors who will inject fresh funds into the business (led by the existing management team). [23]
In April 2021, it was announced that Peacocks had been brought out of administration by a senior executive backed by an international consortium of investors. Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group's chief operating officer Steve Simpson will take over the business. [24] [25]
The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group Ltd (EWM Group) is the holding company for three core brands: Edinburgh Woollen Mill, Jane Norman and Peacocks. As of spring 2016, the group operates close to a thousand stores in the UK, comprising:
The Peacocks brand is also franchised internationally. [30]
In April 2017 EWM made a substantial loan to Carlisle United Football Club. This was seen by some to be a move aimed at eventually taking full control of the club.[ citation needed ]
In October 2020 EWM, which at that time had 24,000 employees, announced it planned to restructure. [31]
Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
British Home Stores, commonly abbreviated to BHS and latterly legally styled BHS Ltd, was a British department store chain, primarily selling clothing and household items. In its later years, the company began to expand into furniture, electronics, entertainment, convenience groceries and fragrance and beauty products.
Austin Reed was a British fashion retailer founded in 1900, and the brand was acquired by Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 2016.
Habitat is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group.
Arcadia Group Ltd was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BHS), Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.
Jaeger is a British fashion brand and retailer of womenswear and menswear. Traditionally known for a classic 'twinset and pearls' image and the use of high-quality natural fibres, it has focused on updating its brand image since 2008, when it first appeared at London Fashion Week.
Peacocks is a fast-fashion retail chain from the United Kingdom-based in Cardiff, Wales. The chain is now part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill group, and employs over 6,000 people. There are currently over four hundred Peacocks retail outlets located in the United Kingdom; and more than two hundred stores located in twelve other countries throughout Europe.
JD Sports Fashion plc, commonly known as JD Sports, JD or JD Group is a British sports-fashion retail company based in Bury, Greater Manchester, England. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. The Pentland Group owns 55% of the company.
Miss Selfridge is a British fashion brand and former high street store chain which began as the young fashion section of Selfridges department store in London in 1966. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, which went into administration in late 2020. The Miss Selfridge brand was purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021 and now operates exclusively online.
Frasers Group plc is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser.
Jane Norman was a United Kingdom-based women's clothing retailer, owned by Edinburgh Woollen Mill, it is also the sister company of fashion chain Peacocks
T. M. Lewin Shirtmaker, commonly known as TM Lewin, is a British online menswear retailer. It was started in 1898 by Thomas Mayes Lewin who opened his first shop on London's Panton Street and later moved to Jermyn Street, renowned as a base for formal shirts. TM Lewin started out making shirts but later started to sell suits, outerwear, knitwear, jackets, chinos, ties and accessories for men.
Rosebys was a retail chain, consisting of over 300 soft-furnishing stores across the United Kingdom. Rosebys sold bedding, curtains, bathroom textiles, and other products. In September 2008 it was announced that Rosebys had become a victim of the recession caused by the 2008 credit crunch and had been placed into administration. As of 2022, the defunct brand is still owned by Indian manufacturing company, GHCL Limited, who have owned the chain since 2006.
USC is a clothing retailer that sells branded clothing across the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company was founded in 1989 in Edinburgh and has been owned by the Frasers Group since 2011. As of April 2024, the company owns stores in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Belgium and Czech Republic.
Bonmarché is a clothing retailer based in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. The business was founded in 1982, and was acquired by the Peacock Group in July 2002.
Internacionale was a British retailer of fashion apparel and home accessories that target fashion-conscious women. It sold women's wear including dresses, tops, jeans, trousers, jackets and jewellery. Headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, Internacionale has stores throughout the United Kingdom. It operates under the brand "Internacionale" in numerous city centres in the UK, while having homeware stores under the brand "Au Naturale" in suburbs. In 2013, the company went into administration and was then sold to Internacionale UK, a new company backed by the existing shareholders of the former company. The sale kept more than 1,500 jobs alive in 114 remaining stores of Internacionale at that time.
The James Pascoe Ltd Group of Companies is a privately owned New Zealand retail group with holdings across New Zealand and Australia. JPG owns and operates chains Pascoes the Jewellers, Stewart Dawsons and Goldmark ; department store Farmers ; homeware retailer Stevens; and bookshop Whitcoulls in New Zealand. The group's three Australian businesses are jewellers Prouds the Jewellers, Angus & Coote and Goldmark, with over 460 stores across Australia as of 2012. Goldmark is the only brand operating in both countries.
Big W was a British retail chain owned by the Kingfisher Group in the United Kingdom, which operated between 1998 and 2004. Big W stores were large format out-of-town megastores that featured products from all of Kingfisher's main retail chains at the time, consisting of Comet, B&Q, Superdrug and Woolworths.
Philip Edward Day is a Dubai-based British billionaire businessman, and the CEO and owner of The Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, which owns Peacocks, Jaeger, Jane Norman, Austin Reed, and other high-street retailers.
Coast is a British women's clothing retail chain, founded in 1996.
{{cite web}}
: |first=
has generic name (help)