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Katie Ross
30 January 2025
Like shoppers themselves, many businesses have felt particularly squeezed this January, either entering administration, shuttering certain stores or launching restructuring programmes. Whoever said January was a dull month did not have a grasp on fashion's inner workings. This month, both Maison Margiela and the British Fashion Council announced who would be taking over the helm, on top of big appointments at Mango, Mithridate and many more. Naturally, the Frasers v. Boohoo saga endures, with open letters and accusations flying from both sides and more rejections of more demands. From openings to closures, appointments and promotions, TheIndustry.fashion has compiled a selection of the month's biggest fashion news. Gymshark has opened its much anticipated new 4,300 sq ft store at The Dubai Mall in the UAE, following a successful pop-up at the destination. It marks the UK gymwear brand’s first permanent store outside of the UK, though it does currently have a pop-up running in New York until 1 February, ahead of permanent flagship opening there later this year. Womenswear brand Sosandar has reported revenues of £12.2 million for the three months ending 31 December 2024, with an increase in margins and net cash of £8.2 million allowing the group to "self-fund planned store roll out". Adding to its existing stores at the Grand Arcade in Cardiff, Metrocentre in Gateshead and stores in Marlow, Buckinghamshire, and Chelmsford in Essex – which both opened in September 2024 – Sosandar has now signed lease agreements for two new stores, in Bath and Harrogate. Abercrombie & Fitch’s two new London stores, at 325 Oxford Street and 132-133 Long Acre in Covent Garden, will both open on 31 January 2025. The stores will feature "updated, engaging spaces", integrated with omnichannel shopping capabilities, connecting both digital and in-person shopping for an "enhanced" customer experience. Both stores will offer a variety of products for men and women across key categories, including styles from the ‘Best Dressed’ collection with dresses, shirting and tailoring such as the ‘Collins’ suit collection. The stores will also showcase Abercrombie’s athleisure brand, Your Personal Best (YPB). Belgian designer Glenn Martens, who served as Creative Director for the recently shuttered Y/Project until September, has been announced as the next to take the creative reins at Maison Margiela, succeeding a decade of John Galliano. After 11 years at Y/Project, the Antwerp Royal Academy of Fine Arts alum will replace Galliano. The move makes theoretical sense given that the deconstructed and experimental aesthetic that underpinned much of Y/Project's output is a cornerstone of Martin Margiela's vision, whose brand is known chiefly for its divisive split-toe Tabi shoe. So Belgian Martens is taking over at Belgian Martin's, but will the Tabi fit? Spanish fashion brand Mango has appointed current CEO Toni Ruiz as its new Chairman, strengthening his involvement in the business as it targets further growth. He was promoted to CEO from CFO in 2018, helping to transform the fashion brand's positioning by reinforcing its value proposition, embracing a unique style that is more aspirational and of greater quality, demonstrating a strong commitment to stores, and working on the institutionalisation of processes and governance. Looking ahead, Ruiz will now lead the company as Chairman and CEO, working towards its strategic goal of achieving more than €4 billion (£3.34 billion) in turnover in 2026, while doubling its profits. The British Fashion Council has appointed Laura Weir as its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Caroline Rush CBE, who will exit the organisation in June 2025. Described as a leader in the global fashion industry, Weir will bring a knowledge of British designers, executive board level experience in retail, and editorial industry leadership to the BFC. She will take on the new role from 28 April 2025. British designer Daniel Fletcher has been appointed as Creative Director at Chinese luxury fashion house Mithridate, where he will be talked to make it a "truly global brand". His appointment is effective immediately. The London-based designer will split his time between China and London studios to oversee the contemporary brand’s menswear and womenswear collections as well as its leather goods and accessories. New Look is set to increase the rate of its store closure programme ahead of tax increases this April. A cornerstone of the UK high street since 1969, approximately a quarter of the veteran retailer's 364 stores nationwide are reportedly at risk when leases expire, putting part of its 8,000-strong workforce at risk, according to The Times. New Look has revised its store estate twice in the past six years and downsized its portfolio by almost half from 600 stores in 2018. NEXT has cautioned over slowing sales growth in 2025 and said it will need to hike prices due to the impact of recent Budget measures. The high street giant said it is facing a £67 million surge in its wage costs in the year to January 2026 after the Labour Government announced plans to increase employer national insurance contributions and the minimum wage from April. It said it will need to push through an "unwelcome" 1% rise in prices as part of efforts to help offset the hit. Schuh has begun a voluntary redundancy process with its staff as it looks to cut costs across the business. The Scottish-headquartered footwear retailer, which currently employs 4,269 people, revealed in November that it had hired 400 new employees in its most recent financial year. However, in a statement to TheIndustry.fashion, CEO Colin Temple said that "due to ongoing challenging economic conditions and rising costs, we have made the difficult decision to restructure our business". After reporting slipping sales earlier this month, Poundland owner Pepco Group has appointed advisors to explore radical options to recover the brand. Last week, Pepco said it was continuing a "comprehensive assessment" of Poundland to recover trading and get the business back to its core strengths, including a thorough assessment of all costs across the business, as well as evaluating its overall competitive positioning. Independent department store Morleys is closing the doors to its Tooting branch on 30 April after 70 years of trading. The site, the largest homestore in Tooting, is shuttering as part of a trading review. Though older buildings promise period charm, Morleys' site needed a significant update for retail use. Management could not justify the investment needed to update the site. In a letter published on 9 January, Boohoo has urged shareholders to block Frasers Group's demands in its second round of voting, accusing founder Mike Ashley of trying to "destabilise Boohoo and disrupt the board's plans to unlock and maximise shareholder value". According to the letter, the group's demand that Mahmud Kamani should be removed as a director of the company was received after the board had appointed Tim Morris as Independent Non-Executive Chair. Morris replaced Kamani in the role, at which point Kamani became Executive Vice Chair. Boohoo pled, "Kamani is an integral part of the leadership team". As Boohoo's general meeting creeps up, advisors Glass Lewis published a public letter urging Boohoo shareholders to reject Frasers Group's demands to remove Mahmud Kamani as Director at the upcoming meeting. Glass Lewis said shareholders should "vote against" the resolution at the general meeting on 21 January 2025, which seeks to remove Mahmud Kamani as a Director. On 23 January, Mike Ashley's Frasers Group published another open letter accusing Boohoo Group of making undisclosed payments of £2 million per year to Umar Kumani, the son of Boohoo co-founder and Executive Vice Chair Mahmud Kamani. Frasers, which holds a 28.1% stake in Boohoo Group, alleged in the letter that Umar Kamani was receiving said payments for providing "consultancy services" to Boohoo subsidiary PrettyLittleThing (PLT).
New openings
Gymshark has opened its first permanent store outside of the UK in Dubai
Sosandar reported a ‘significant’ golden quarter sales uplift and had announced plans for two new stores
Abercrombie & Fitch has announced the opening of two new London stores
Big name appointments
Maison Margiela has named Glenn Martens as its next Creative Director
Mango has appointed CEO Toni Ruiz as Chairman
The British Fashion Council appointed its new CEO
Daniel Fletcher was appointed Creative Director of Mithridate
Budget pressures endure
New Look has ramped up store closures amid budget pressures
NEXT CEO Simon Wolfson warned against NI hikes, saying it will make finding jobs harder
Schuh announced the launch of its redundancy process amid restructuring
Poundland has been hit by difficult sales environment, stating recovery is a 'key priority'
Morleys has shuttered one of its department stores after 70 years
Frasers continues to make headlines
Boohoo has once again slammed Frasers in a public letter
A final plea was made to Boohoo's shareholders to reject Frasers’ demands
Frasers accused Boohoo of undisclosed payments to founder’s son
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