Laura Ashley will return to Main Street in the UK next year in a new partnership with Next – which will sell its homeware products – and with a series of new stores.
The besieged clothing and home furnishing retailer will reintroduce its homeware across more than 500 Next UK stores and websites – operating in more than 70 countries – as of spring 2021. A Laura Ashley flagship store is also slated to be established in the Westfield Center For shopping in West London, by others elsewhere in the UK.
The company became the first major retailer to enter management this year as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The 67-year-old brand announced it would permanently shutter 70 stores in mid-March, with plans to cut 268 office jobs and leave more than 1,500 workers.
Its bosses have hired PwC to advise on the management process, and blame the impact of the coronavirus to turn it to the brink. Investment firm Gordon Brothers acquired Laura Ashley out of management in a deal that included her global branding, archives and related intellectual property.
Laura Ashley will re-launch under Gordon Brothers in a new partnership with a team of British designers to continue to “raise the flag” for the British heritage brand.
“We believe that combining the design vision of the Laura Ashley team alongside Next’s online and retail infrastructure can come together to revitalize this world-class brand,” said the CEO of Next, Lord Wolfson.
Poppy Marshall-Lawton, Head of Brand & Partnerships at Laura Ashley, said the late founder of the company, Laura Ashley, “has always been inspired by the past but passionate about the future, so having a chance to revitalize the brand is a perfect new chapter in our truly amazing story. “.
