Editors' Top Reads: News from M&S, Philip Browne, Strathberry and more...

Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.fashion team.

Philip Browne in Norwich to shutter following Frasers Group acquisition

It came as no surprise that long standing premium menswear independent Philip Browne in Norwich is to close down after 38 years come mid-December, with an up to 70% off clearance Sale now in full swing.

The writing was on the wall when the business was acquired by Frasers Group from JD Sports Fashion in March 2023, who themselves had only bought the business from its founder, Philip Browne, a year before.

A shiny new Frasers Group-owned Flannels which opened in Norwich in April 2024 further sealed its fate.

It’s another of those once mighty independent names to be snapped up and discarded or have uncertain futures. Think Oi Polloi, Wellgosh, Psyche, Xile, Giulio, John Anthony, Thackerays, Zee & Co, Aphrodite, and so on.

What’s makes it so sad is knowing that the founders/buyers put their hearts and souls into those businesses and grew them from nothing. They nurtured them and were meticulous in what they bought and how it was presented. They had a real knowledge of product and of their customers. They ‘broke’ new labels in the market, and re-established old brands. A lot of them were real ground breakers and industry characters. Philip Browne falls into that category.

Tom Bottomley, Contributing Editor.

Marks & Spencer sees profits surge, but cautions over consumer pressures

For those that know me, it's no secret that I'm a big fan of M&S. From food to clothing, I think the department store is killing it - and I know that many others feel the same too. So, I wasn't too surprised to hear that Marks & Spencer has notched up a better-than-expected jump in half-year profits thanks to buoyant trading.

The retail giant reported underlying pre-tax profits up 17.2% to £407.8 million for the six months to 28 September as its turnaround plan continues to pay off. Although, it did caution over an "uncertain" consumer backdrop and rising costs - showing that even the strongest in the industry aren't without their challenges.

CEO Stuart Machin also said the long-term impact of recent measures announced in the Budget was "for now uncertain". He added: "The easy thing to do today would simply be to say that these are good results, but that wouldn’t be the right thing to do.

The retailer has been pressing ahead with its revamp plan in recent years, including the launch of "bigger and better" stores. However, Machin's cautious approach seems sensible in the current market.

Sophie Smith, News Editor & Senior Writer. 

The Eric Musgrave Interview: Why Strathberry founders have bags of confidence

I recently read a heated debate online about whether it was the Princess of Wales or the Duchess of Sussex that put Scottish accessible luxury brand Strathberry on the map. From my perspective, it was neither. Royal and celebrity endorsement is no doubt helpful, but it will only provide a short-term boost to a brand if the product and value proposition doesn't live up to the hype.

Before either the Princess or the Duchess latched on to Strathberry, its incredibly smart founders, Leeanne and Guy Hundleby, had already found their winning formula of outstanding quality, contemporary design and fair pricing.

While the brand is Scottish in its roots, its handbags are made in Spain in the town of Ubrique in Andalucia, where a number of other luxury brands source their product. Handbag afficionados will likely know of this location thanks to Tanner Leatherstein, the TikTok and Instagram personality who owns the Pegai brand and who has become social media famous for cutting up designer bags and assessing whether they are worth the money or not.

Often Leatherstein will declare brands not worth the money, but his (independent) assessment of Strathberry was that its quality and design lived up to (and exceeded) that of many far more expensive rivals. This sort of endorsement has far more clout than any high-profile carrier, in my view.

Read this fantastic interview with the brand's founders from our contributor Eric Musgrave to learn more about the Strathberry story.

Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor in Chief, 

What impact will Trump’s win have on the British fashion economy?

The biggest news of the week is, of course, that Donald Trump won the US Presidential election. Following Trump’s win, I set out to find out if and how this would impact the British retail economy.

Despite Wall Street revelling from the announcement of a Trump presidency 2.0, stock markets in the UK and across Europe wavered due to the uncertainty of the market.

The FTSE 100 opened higher, but its gains soon fell, closing lower at the end of trading amid concerns over volatility in the market. The index was just 0.07% lower at the end of trading on Wednesday. Elsewhere in Europe, the German Dax index was down 1.1% and the French Cac 40 was down 0.5%.

Importantly, during his campaign, Trump said he wanted to increase the tariffs on important goods by 10% and up to 60% on goods from China. The US is a huge export market for British luxury brands, for example, representing 24% of all exports (approximately £13 billion). So, this poses a threat to the success of British brands overseas.

According to analysis from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, this would cause economic growth in the UK to slow to 0.4% in 2025, down from a forecast of 1.2%.

Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.