‘The nomination process is an inspiring reminder of the wealth of design and creative talents we have in the UK’
The BFC’s Caroline Rush says the British Fashion Awards judges have a tough job to do p7 TRADING Cruise: a recent history
1981 Founded by Jim Gibson in Edinburgh 2006 Gibson sells Cruise to Icelandic fund Kcaj for about £7m 2008 Icelandic banks collapse 2009 Cruise completes pre-pack administration, shedding several stores. James Pow installed as chief executive 2010 Cruise enters talks with restructuring firms Store locations Aberdeen, Belfast, Derby, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leicester and Newcastle. It also trades from
Cruisefashion.co.uk
Still standing: Cruise’s Leicester store escaped the axe in May 2009
director of Cruise at the time of the administration, was installed by HBOS as chief executive in late 2009, following the departure of managing director John Heath. Following Pow’s appointment he
implemented a new strategy to bring in smaller designer labels and work with suppliers to spread deliveries so the stores had constant “newness”. As a result Cruise introduced the
YOUNG FASHION
much-lauded London Fashion Week designers Christopher Kane and Erdem and brought Burberry Prorsum back into its mix. The chain also stocks luxury super brands such as Gucci, Prada and Jimmy Choo. Accounts fi led at Companies
House for Cruise Fashion, the parent company, showed the business had sales of £21.4m for the period between May 15, 2009 to January 30.
It made an operating loss of £315,000 over the period, but this was blamed on an exceptional cost of £478,000 relating to the reorganisation of the business post administration. Separately, buying controller
Louis Darcy left the business last month. It is not known whether he had another job to go to. Pow, Hilco and GA Associates declined to comment.
Crossrail work to hit Oxford Street stores
Retailers on London’s Oxford Street are braced for major disruption next year when one of the street’s busiest sections undergoes building works as part of the construction of Crossrail. Retailers including Debenhams
and Selfridges met last week with the New West End Company (NWEC) and representatives from Crossrail and London Underground to discuss the impact of planned utility works from February to October. Sections of the road between
St Christopher’s Place and Wood- stock Street near Bond Street tube station are set to be closed to east- bound traffi c on the north side, but pavements will remain open. However, it is understood the
works could aff ect both the north and south sides of the road, although not at the same time. NWEC said similar works this year
on the east end of Oxford Street near Tottenham Court Road tube station had resulted in a 20% to 25% drop off in footfall over nine months.
Ex-Republic brand boss joins JD Sports Fashion
BY SUZANNE BEARNE Sportswear giant JD Sports Fashion has recruited former Republic brand manager Nick Preston to the newly created role of group trading director. Preston, whose departure from
branded young fashion business Republic in June shocked the industry, will work across all four JD Sports Fashion fascias – the JD retail chain, young fashion chains Bank and Scotts and footwear chain Size?. He will report to both chairman Peter Cowgill and chief executive Barry Bown. The position is not on the board. Preston’s exact remit remains
unclear. He told Drapers: “It’s a successful business but I’ll be looking at how we make it a world-class
business. I’ll be looking at store performance, brand performance, supplier relationships, ecommerce and trading.” Preston, whose role at Republic
will be fi lled by Next’s longstanding brand buyer Scott Macrae in the new year, led a strategy to introduce key young fashion brands such as G-Star, Henleys and Diesel to Republic during his fi ve-year tenure. He joined Republic from department store chain House of Fraser, where he worked in a menswear buying role. He also worked at Harvey Nichols. He has impeccable relation- ships with key brands in the young fashion sector. Preston’s appointment follows a
high profi le exit from JD Sports Fashion when Bank founder and
‘World-class’ ambition: Nick Preston
buying director Andy Scott left the chain in October. Chanda Pandya, formerly head of buying at women’s young fashion chain Jane Norman, was drafted in as director of buying for Bank to replace Scott last month. JD Sports Fashion said last month
it had maintained sales and profi t margins since September, when it posted a 64% hike in pre-tax profi t to £16.6m in the 26 weeks to July 31. Sales surged £18.5m to £383.9m against the same period the year before. Like-for-like sales for the year to November 13 were up 2.8% The retailer also said it remained
“inevitably cautious” about main- taining such positive like-for-like sales during the Christmas period against a backdrop of successive uplifts in previous years.
December 3 2010 Drapers 3
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