British fashion retailer
New Look
is a British global fashion retailer with a chain of
high street
shops. It was founded in 1969. The chain sells womenswear, menswear, and clothing for teens. New Look was owned by private equity groups
Apax Partners
and
Permira
, and founder Tom Singh,
[4]
until May 2015 when it was acquired by Brait SE (SA) for £780 million.
[5]
History
[
edit
]
New Look was founded by
Tom Singh
in
Taunton
,
Somerset
, in 1969.
[5]
Since then the company has expanded and previously operated across a chain of over 900 stores internationally, including
Belgium
(they opened their first Belgium store in 2006),
France
, the
Netherlands
, the
Republic of Ireland
,
Romania
,
Malta
,
Malaysia
,
South Korea
,
Singapore
,
Thailand
,
Indonesia
,
United Arab Emirates
,
China
,
Germany
,
Russia
,
Bahrain
,
Saudi Arabia
,
Azerbaijan
and
Poland
, and a staff of over 18,000.
[
citation needed
]
The group had a turnover of £1,147 million in 2008 with profits of £180 million.
[6]
New Look,
Pontefract
In 2004, the company withdrew from the stock market and was taken back to being a privately owned business by founder Tom Singh and chief executive Phil Wrigley, and private equity investors
Permira
,
Apax Partners
and Quillian Investments.
[7]
On 26 April 2007, a fire occurred at a New Look branch in
Oxford Street
,
London
.
[8]
The subsequent investigation revealed an extensive catalogue of failings relating to fire safety precautions and measures. The company subsequently pleaded guilty to criminal charges and on 25 November 2009, was fined a total of £400,000 with £136,052 costs.
[9]
In 2010, the fines were upheld by the Court of Appeal.
[10]
New look in the current branding and revive refit in
Cross Gates
,
Leeds
in 2019.
In 2008, New Look continued their expansion in the UK and opened their largest store at the time in Liverpool One Shopping Centre.
[
citation needed
]
In February 2009, the company's fortieth anniversary year, New Look opened their first store in
Russia
.
[11]
In July 2010, New Look opened their three-hundredth store in
Glasgow Fort
Shopping Park. The store is 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m
2
). It was built on the site of a former
Borders
store.
The largest New Look store in the world opened in
Dublin
,
Ireland
on 4 November 2010, located at the
Jervis Shopping Centre
.
[12]
It is the twenty-ninth New Look store in Ireland. Many of the outlets in Singapore have been closed, except CityLink Mall, City Square Mall and the latest opened store,
Republic Polytechnic
.
In 2015, New Look was purchased by Brait SE; had 94 stores in China, and 852 globally.
[5]
[13]
In 2018, New Look closed 60 stores in the United Kingdom and withdrew from international markets.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
- Top Track 100 ? list of 100 largest private companies in the United Kingdom. New Look is at number 32.
[
citation needed
]
References
[
edit
]
External links
[
edit
]
- News items