News
With its Tu Clothing label now being a £1 billion business, it’s no surprise that supermarkets giant Sainsbury’s is beefing up the executive team at the top of its non-foods business.
And now former John Lewis fashion buying director Christine Kasoulis has joined it to head its fashion, furniture and home business.
A veteran of John Lewis where she worked for over 30 years, she’ll now once again work with Paula Nickolds, the former John Lewis chief who joined last year as General Merchandise and Clothing Commercial Director and as a board member.
The news was first reported by Retail Week.
Kasoulis left John Lewis after 32 years when it restructured in 2021 and Nickolds said she was “uniquely well qualified” for the role at Sainsbury’s.
The news comes after Sainsbury’s reported strong sales growth for its Tu Clothing line that now generates more than £1 billion in revenue annually. The company also said it’s selling more of the label’s products at full price — 89% compared to 65% two years ago.
Although known mainly as a supermarket, Sainsbury’s has giant non-food operations, including its Argos general merchandise offer, its Habitat furniture and homewares business, and its own-brand non-foods.
A new premium footwear brand is debuting in the UK with Lerins — launched by Dune founder Daniel Rubin and "Inspired by the unspoilt Lérins Islands off the French Riviera” — unveiled on Tuesday.
The new label for both women and men focuses on “sustainable trainers”, all designed in London and made in Portugal from materials sourced in Europe.
It avoids claiming to be fully sustainable but said it’s “busy working on that” and is “committed to making every effort to become as sustainable as possible”, as well as being as transparent as it can.
Launching this month, the shoes retail at £130 via www.lerinslondon.com.
The company said it “puts a directional and sustainable twist on the retro-inspired court trainer. Combining optimal comfort with trend-led style credentials, Lerins is introduced with 10 options and in a palette of in-style shades including muted camel and vibrant green”.
It added that the label “joins the dots between modern styling and socially- and environmentally-conscious crafting techniques, without compromising comfort or quality”.
Rubin, the fourth generation of his family to be involved in manufacturing footwear, founded Dune 30 years ago and said of his new venture: “One thing my experience has shown me is making shoes is a complex business — there are well over one hundred processes in the manufacture of footwear.”
He added that his mission is “to make shoes in a more sustainable way”. Leather, although a bi-product of the food industry, “requires the use of lots of water and chemicals to be produced. I was determined, with Lerins, to address these challenges and make my shoes in a more environmentally and socially responsible way”.
The leather used in the new products is produced “to a gold standard” in certified ‘Leather Working Group’ tanneries where the provenance of the raw material is known and approved, and the use of water and chemicals tightly controlled.
It’s also using vegan leather supplied by Italian partner Vegea that’s made from the grape skins left over from wine-making. This is combined with vegetal oils and natural fibres to make a durable and leather-like product.
The line-up comes with a leather and canvas option too and the the canvas used is created from recycled sea plastic. Meanwhile, shoelaces are made of organic cotton and soles from recycled and virgin rubber.
The sustainability element extends to the packaging that’s fully recyclable, compostable or biodegradable and and has featured energy efficient processes in its logistics and operations “wherever possible”.
Wella Company announced on Friday it has added clean hair care brand Briogeo to its beauty portfolio, marking the company's first acquisition as an independent entity after it was spun off from former parent Coty in 2020.
The acquisition of Briogeo comes more than 12 months after former parent company Coty spun off the Wella business, in a deal that saw private investment firm KKR acquire the hair care and beauty brand - Briogeo
While financial details of the takeover deal were not disclosed, the owner of Wella Professionals, O.P.I, GHD, Nioxin, Sebastian Professional and Clairol announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Briogeo, "one of the fastest growing hair care brands in the world and one of the largest independent Black-owned brands in the United States," according to a press release.
Wella said it intends to support Briogeo and its strategy to excel at the forefront of sustainable beauty, adding that the hair care brand aligns with Wella's commitment to building a company with Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) at its core.
"Briogeo has been at the forefront of the clean and natural hair revolution since the company started in 2013, and its rise has been nothing short of remarkable. Together we'll extend our sustainable product offerings even more, expand our premium retail footprint and drive both commercial and social impact to new levels," said Annie Young-Scrivner, chief executive officer of Wella Company.
The addition of the Briogeo portfolio also reinforces Wella's ambitions to retail more diverse products for all hair types, while expanding clean and green products across its portfolio offerings.
"Briogeo's high-growth, eco-ethical and natural hair care products complement our existing hair portfolio and sustainable offerings and will fuel our growth momentum in the hair category, which is now the fastest growing segment in beauty," added Young-Scrivner.
Founded nine years ago by Nancy Twine, who also stands as the company CEO, Briogeo offers clean and natural hair care, offering products and solutions for every hair type, hair texture, hair need, ethnicity, background and person.
"The strength of Wella Company's research & development, digital marketing and global operations, and their ability to reach 91 million hair and nail professionals and followers they serve and support will take our Briogeo brand to the next level," said Twine.
"This is a significant strategic partnership for both sides, and one that is compatible in ambition, philosophy and culture. In Wella Company we have a committed partner to help our business and our employees reach the next level of growth. We're excited to accelerate our expansion and innovation, globally delighting more people in more geographies and through broader delivery channels."
The acquisition of Briogeo comes more than 12 months after former parent company Coty spun off the Wella business, in a deal that saw private investment firm KKR acquire the hair care and beauty brand.
Cooee, a Cambridge, UK-based AI platform that helps mobile apps boost customer retention with personalised engagement, raised £300k in pre-seed funding.
Backers included Jenson Funding Partners, as well as several angel investors from the United States, India and UK.
The company intends to use the funding for further product development, increase its e-commerce store reach and launch an augmented reality version of the product.
Led by CEO and founder Shwetank Tamer Cooee provides a SaaS-based, low-code platform that delivers one-to-one personalised in-app and push notifications that help businesses increase revenue and reduce churn. It uses AR, computer vision and machine learning to create unique engagements for every customer in real-time.
It is available on mobile apps, desktop, Woocommerce and Shopify with a roadmap to add Canva, Wix and other popular eCommerce channels.
The fashion industry’s commitment to sustainability has never been made more clear. Maje intends to offer its customers a transparent supply chain for 100% of its products within three years. This strategy is in line with its objective to have at least 60% of its products made with at least half of more environmentally friendly materials. To help it achieve their goal of transparency, the brand as well as the entire SMCP group which generates more than one billion euros in sales, has entrusted the French start-up, Fairly Made.
This challenge does not seem to intimidate the young, fast-growing company. It has recently expanded its premises in Paris’ sustainable fashion hub, La Caserne, in the city’s 10th district, and additionally works with six LVMH-owned brands. Whether they are contemporary fashion brands, luxury giants or independent labels, Fairly Made, founded by Laure Betsch and Camille Le Gal in 2018, promises to provide a methodology to its roster of clients.
The start-up was created to support brands in their buying habits and to help them evolve environmentally and socially. The founders have had work experience in the buying departments of large companies such as Chanel, H&M, and Louis Vuitton which allowed them to identify the needs of brands prior to embarking on their entrepreneurial adventure.
However, in 2018, environmental issues were only emerging and were not yet taken seriously by the fashion industry. In their early days, Betsch and Le Gal had to spread the word, and this was first done through capsule collections made with a more sustainable approach for fashion and textile industry players. The start-up has the contacts and flexibility to operate quickly and with limited quantities, which notably allowed a brand like Des Petits Hauts to take its first steps towards more responsible sourcing in 2019.
'These transparency issues will become the standard'
"Our mission was to improve the social and environmental impact of the textile industry, to bring about change. The capsules were ideal for this because they allowed for rapid implementation," explained Le Gal. “Now, we are working in depth, with the aim of eventually changing 100% of the collections. These transparency issues will become a standard. New emerging brands must have this issue ingrained in their DNA, and those that are established have a lot of catching up to do."
Fairly Made provides brands with a solution that enables them to trace their entire value chain and evaluate the quality of each of its products according to five criteria: environmental, social, traceability, recyclability and sustainability.
"With eco-certified capsule collections, brands needed concrete solutions and we provided them with certified factories and materials. The brands then asked us to help them with the rest of their supplier base. Suppliers were coming up with suggestions for labels and certifications, but brands didn’t know how to position themselves on these issues. We had the expertise to analyze suppliers and the impact of products. And we positioned ourselves as a trusted third party," said the co-founder.
Fairly Made developed its own platform in partnership with DNVB Asphalte and women's fashion brand Des Petits Hauts. Two industry players with different profiles that have allowed Fairly Made to test its technological solution and its versatility according to the brands' business models.
The solution allows them to collect information on the supplier base and to then start collecting information from these partners.
“On an initial data collection, we centralize all the information that the brands have," explained Betsch.
Some have an ERP (enterprise resource planning) system that has already compiled certain data, others do not. Usually, it's a true driver in understanding how the brands work and where their pressure points are. Very often, they know the tier 1 plant. But then it's an exploration. It's a co-management with the suppliers, because it requires extra work for the suppliers to gather the information. Our statistics tell us that we know 70% more of the supplier base from the second data collection. The brands are at the bottom of the pyramid, which allows them to identify the biggest impacts along the chain and to direct their attention to them. Often we deal with repeat business because it's the highest volume and the suppliers where there are the biggest orders."
The company, which explains that it carries out a diagnostic analysis in less than two months, emphasizes a SaaS solution that is accessible to companies via a monthly subscription so that they can directly understand their data, transformation plan and performance. This solution now accounts for 70% of the company's turnover and it intends to expand its customer portfolio, which currently includes around 50 companies in France and Europe such as M.Moustache, Patou, Balzac, Dior, Cyrillus and TBS.
Click here to read the full article.
Monspire, a London, UK-based cashflow management SaaS platform, powered by AI, raised £600K in funding.
The round was led by Fuel Ventures.
The company intends to use the funds to launch to market and rapidly onboard new businesses.
Founded by serial tech entrepreneurs Simon Draper and Ben Gillen, Monspire provides a platform that enables small businesses to predict their cashflow needs through its forecasting tool, empowering them to spot funding gaps, while providing access to invoice financing to help plug gaps.
The company has also joined AWS’ Startup Loft Accelerator, an equity-free programme supporting early-stage startups in Europe, Middle East and Africa with technology, product development and go-to-market advice.
JD Sports is again being talked of as a possible buyer for Missguided, the fast fashion firm that last week said its founder-CEO would step down and that it had called in Teneo as strategic advisors.
Industry sources told Thisismoney that JD is mulling buying into the company that’s currently seeking a partner with the infrastructure and platform to help it in the next stage of its recovery.
It’s unclear whether JD would come in as a partner or would want to buy the whole business.
JD was originally reported to be in talks about taking a stake in the struggling business last September. Neither Misguided nor JD confirmed those reports at the time.
In the event, turnaround specialist Alteri Investors took a 50% stake last December.
Misguided has been grappling with problems for several years with its issues pre-dating the pandemic and high costs having been identified as a particular problem for it.
Having been an online-focused operation, in the last decade it dived into giant physical stores in premium malls but later revised this ambitious physical retail expansion programme, closing the stores.
However, its clothing is currently available in physical concessions in around 100 Asda stores.
Despite its expansion plans and earlier predictions of a return to profitability, the pandemic and the subsequent supply chain crisis put paid to that.
Reports said that JD Sports’ interest in the company is at an early stage, despite the rumours last year.
British challenger bank Starling has completed a £130.5m fundraise from previous investors to “build a war chest for acquisitions”.
The latest funding came at a pre-money valuation of more than £2.5bn for the London-headquartered digital bank.
Funds came from all of Starling’s previous backers, including Goldman Sachs Growth Equity and the Qatar Investment Authority.
“This will enable us to continue our growth and to build a war chest for acquisitions. We are looking at a number of potential targets,” a Starling spokesperson said.
Starling did not share any details on its acquisition targets. However, UKTN understands that Starling has £400m in surplus capital on its balance sheet that could be used for acquisitions.
A source told UKTN that Starling is looking at targets in the lending space. Starling has previously been linked with mortgage lender Kensington, with the challenger bank reportedly in a bidding war with high street bank Barclays.
However, this deal is not finalised and UKTN understands that Starling is keeping other mortgage lenders on the table.
Starling has previously acquired UK-based buy-to-let mortgage lender Fleet Mortgages in a £50m cash and stock deal.
Founded in 2014 by Anne Boden, Starling provides personal and business accounts, along with B2B banking and payments services through its banking-as-a-service model.
Last year Starling raised a total of £322m, with £272m of that coming in a Series D funding round in March. That investment gave the bank unicorn status – privately held companies valued at $1bn or more.
Boden has previously said that the fintech company is aiming to go public by 2023.
Starling has been profitable on a monthly basis since October 2020 and last year saw its revenues soar by 600%.
Wearable technology company Kinexon has raised a $130 million Series A round with plans to advance its automated innovations in both its industrial and sports businesses that already include performance tracking and data analytics.
The funding was led by private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, with co-investments from BMW i Ventures and Telekom Innovation Pool. Based in Munich and with an office in Chicago, Kinexon has expanded to over 300 employees with a major emphasis on basketball.
The company is the NBA’s top provider for physical data, working with 80 percent of the league on live player and ball tracking—the goal being to help with training and in-game strategy. Kinexon, overall, has 400-plus sports clients and counting, as it continues to branch out to both college and professional football. It has also worked with FIFA, MLB and has also been integrating data into sports broadcasting through augmented reality applications.
UK Retail sales volumes fell by 1.4% in March 2022 following a fall of 0.5% in February, the Office for National Statistics said on Friday. That said, sales volumes were 2.2% above their pre-coronavirus February 2020 levels.
The largest contribution to the fall came from non-store retailing with volumes down 7.9% after a fall of 6.9% in February. The proportion of retail sales online fell to 26%, its lowest proportion since February 2020 (22.7%). Its peak of 37.1% had come a little over a year ago in the middle of a lockdown.
Again, though, even with the drops, e-sales volumes were 20.3% above February 2020.
Non-food store sales volumes rose by 1.3% in March, although fashion didn’t contribute to the rise with DIY on many consumers’ minds instead.
Clothing stores’ sales volumes actually dropped 0.5%. And department stores were down 0.1% month-on-month.
But the sub-sector of ‘other non-food stores' reported a monthly increase in sales volumes of 2.9% in March. This was because of strong growth in second-hand goods stores.
Overall, it seems small business struggled and Government High Streets Task Force expert and ShopAppy founder Dr Jackie Mulligan said: “For countless small independent retailers, March was merciless. The thousands of small high street businesses we work with said it was extremely challenging last month and this data reflects that. Inflation is really starting to take its toll on people's finances and that is rapidly impacting sales on the high street.”
And Victoria Jenkins, CEO of London-based fashion retailer Unhidden, added: “Sales are currently slow. An additional challenge for us, compared to fast fashion brands, is that we are made to order, which means producing items is much more time-intensive. We are also currently targeting a demographic that the fashion industry, sadly, has long excluded, namely the disabled community. We are still trust building with our prospective customers and that's another challenge right now.”
Dalia Hawley, skincare manufacturer at Dalia Botanqiue, also showed that beauty isn’t immune to the downturn. “I sell handmade natural skincare both online and in a local social enterprise craft shop. I have noticed a significant drop in sales, both online and in store over the past month or so. I believe people are now viewing my range as more of a treat as opposed to an item they previously didn't think twice about buying a few times a month,” she said.