Fashion brand Ted Baker’s remaining 31 stores in the UK are to close this week, putting more than 500 jobs at risk.
Started as a men’s clothing label in Glasgow in 1988 by entrepreneur Ray Kelvin and becoming known for its quirky advertising and floral prints, Ted Baker’s UK arm entered administration in March after racking up losses.
The brand has since shut 15 shops in the UK, resulting in about 245 staff being made redundant. However, it is understood that the retailer’s remaining stores will close this week. The brand will continue to be available via wholesale partners such as John Lewis and House of Fraser.
Ted Baker has been struggling for several years in the face of increasing competition, a shift to online trading and the fallout from the exit of Kelvin, who stepped down in 2019 after allegations of “forced hugging”.
The UK fashion industry as a whole has had a tough year after an unseasonably cold spring and early summer, while the cost of living crisis has dampened spending on non-essentials.
The brand’s final store closures, expected to be completed by Tuesday, come just two years after US-based Authentic Brands Group bought the brand for a cut-price £211m, operating its British arm under the firm’s No Ordinary Designer Label division (NODL).
Authentic Brands, the firm behind a number of fashion labels including Juicy Couture and Reebok, still owns Ted Baker’s intellectual property. It had been searching for a new partner to run the retail and online business in the UK and Europe. Sports Direct founder Mike Ashley’s Frasers Group had been a frontrunner, but talks are understood to have fallen through.
It emerged last month that Ted Baker could disappear from British high streets after staff were told that the remaining stores could close. Sky News reported on Sunday that talks to find a potential future licensing partnership had stalled.
It comes after NODL reported a near £44m loss in the year to January as sales slid by almost 8% to £176m in the year to January amid problems with its former European licensee.
The brand has stores in the US, Asia and the Middle East as well as in Europe. It also sells directly to department stores and licenses its brand for products including childrenswear and lingerie, both of which are run by British retailer Next. The licences, franchises and US business are understood to be unaffected by the problems at NODL.
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Authentic has been considering options for the future of the business since the end of January, when it terminated a deal with the Dutch company AARC, which operated Ted Baker’s retail stores and website in the UK and Europe.
When NODL fell into administration in March, Authentic said the “damage done” during a tie-up with AARC was “too much to overcome”.