Ted Baker to close ALL of its remaining 31 stores risking 500 jobs four months after going into administration

Ted Baker will close all of its remaining 31 stores this week, risking 500 jobs four months after going into administration.

All of the fashion brand’s stores are expected to have shut by the end of Tuesday.

It comes after the firm behind Ted Baker’s UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), fell into administration in March this year and its administrators closed 15 shops and cut 245 jobs.

It currently currently employs 513 UK employees across the Ted Baker stores and head office, whose jobs are now at risk.

A Ted Baker store on Regent Street in London has a clearance sale in July

The decision came after Authentic Brand Group – which acquired Ted Baker in 2022 – stopped paying its suppliers, reports in the Wall Street Journal suggested. 

When NODL fell into administration – when Ted Baker had about 975 employees in the UK – Authentic said the ‘damage done’  was ‘too much to overcome’.

Ted Baker ran 46 shops, an e-commerce platform and department store concessions.

John McNamara, chief strategy and transition officer for Authentic Brands Group, previously told Fashion Network: ‘We wish that there could’ve been a better outcome for the Ted Baker employees and stakeholders.’

Ted Baker – which first opened in Glasgow in 1988 – has picked up impressive celebrity endorsements over the years including Emma Stone and Amal Clooney.

It was founded by Ray Kelvin who famously quit in 2019 amidst allegations he forced female employees to embrace him and asked them to sit on his lap.

Mr Kelvin, who denied allegations of misconduct, was also accused of massaging employees and kissing their ears.

The firm behind Ted Baker’s UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), fell into administration in March this year

At that point, he had been with the company since founding it 32 years earlier.

Mr Kelvin, started working in his uncle’s Enfield menswear shop aged 11 and founded the Ted Baker brand in 1988, when he opened a shop specialising in men’s shirts in Glasgow turning it into one of Britain’s top brands.

Authentic Brands, the US-based company behind Juicy Couture and Reebok, is still the owner of Ted Baker’s intellectual property.

After announcing its bankruptcy last month, joint administrator Benji Dymant said: ‘Ted Baker is an iconic British brand with strong partners around the world.

‘These store closures, whilst with a regrettable impact on valued team members, will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand to bring the business back to health.

‘We would like to thank Ted Baker team members and partners for their ongoing efforts and support at this difficult time.’