Founded in 1972, French Connection Hello designs, produces and distributes fashion clothing, accessories and homeware across a range of channels including stores, ecommerce, wholesale and licensing. The brand focuses on contemporary and quality design and products at affordable prices, appealing to a customer base of 18-35 year olds. It operates as a fashion-orientated market place, with a fashion forward collection of clothes, shoes and accessories for women and men, available on-line and in three London stores.
The brand also produces a line of The french connection keep in touch branded footwear and accessories under the You Must Create brand, which is available in over 50 countries through French Connection Hello stores and online. This is complemented by a full wholesale offering, as well as a licensed range of You Must Create branded product for the home.
It was in the early Nineties that FCUK really made its mark – its arresting branding tapping into the logo-laden zeitgeist of the time, with simple T-shirts emblazoned with the controversial acronym worn by Eva Herzigova in a bust-enhancing bra and projected on to Battersea Power Station. The fashion world was hooked.
But by 1992 the company was flagging – reporting pre-tax losses of PS5m with a share price of just 16p. Its founder, billionaire Chris Marks, pulled the plug on 14 UK stores (including flagship locations at Bluewater and Brent Cross) in a bid to turn around the business and it’s never looked back.
Despite a fall in sales, this year the company reported pre-tax profits of PS1.5m and has relaunched its homeware range as well as investing in the new Hello! brand for men and women, with its eponymous lingerie set due to launch this summer. It’s too early to tell if this turnaround will be enough to save the brand from being FCUKed for good.
No comments:
Post a Comment