Mappin & Webb has made its return to Birmingham at long last, “marking a new chapter for one of Britain’s most prestigious jewellers”.
Mappin & Webb
It’s taken over two decades but the Watches of Switzerland-owned brand’s return to the city comes with a premium showroom site located beneath the historic Burlington Hotel on New Street.
Just moments from the city’s Jewellery Quarter, the showroom “celebrates the deep connection between the brand’s craftsmanship and Birmingham’s long-standing reputation for creativity and design excellence”.
Following a seven-month refurbishment, the 2,800 sq ft showroom features a “world-class collection of luxury watch and jewellery brands within a refined and immersive environment”.
Key to the interior design is a dedicated hospitality bar, private consultation areas and statement chandelier and architectural detailing, “which pay homage to the building’s historic character”.
In a first for the city, the introduction of an external Rolex clock reinforces the century-long partnership between the brands. Of course, a dedicated Rolex area is located at the heart of the showroom where visitors can explore the full range of collections. This also includes a curated selection of Rolex Certified Pre-owned watches.
Additionally, the showroom features luxury timepieces from brands including IWC Schaffhausen, Jaeger-LeCoultre, TAG Heuer, and Tudor.
The jewellery highlight includes one of America’s “most innovative fine jewellery designers” David Yurman, which is exclusive to the Watches of Switzerland Group. Venetian jeweller Roberto Coin is also present alongside Mappin & Webb’s own fine jewellery collections.
Joining other new-concept Mappin & Webb locations in York, Bluewater, Glasgow and Manchester, the Birmingham showroom “reinforces the Watches of Switzerland Group’s strategic vision to strengthen its city presence while balancing heritage with innovation”.
Womenswear brand Club L London has been expanding fast in recent periods and that can be seen from its newly-released 2024/25 results that saw profit before tax jumping 51%.
Club L London
For the 12 months to March this year, its turnover rose to £65.9 million from £44.4 million, a 48% leap.
Meanwhile gross profit rose as much as 62% to £37.8 million from £23.4 million, and the aforementioned profit before tax was up to £14 million from just under £3.1 million a year earlier.
Profit margins rose from 6.9% to 21.1% and net assets also grew significantly, from £9.1 million to £16.6 million, “reflecting the brand’s strengthened financial position and its capacity to continue investing in growth initiatives”.
Its net profit for the year rose to £10.38 million from £2.57 million.
The company said the performance was primarily driven by the brand’s strategic expansion into international markets and targeted investments in infrastructure and technology.
The US delivered 90% growth, Australia 83%, and the Middle East an “exceptional” 417% increase year-on-year. Europe also experienced saw triple-digit growth, “supported by an expanding international customer base and carefully executed localisation strategies across Germany, Poland, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia”.
The company launched localised webstores as part of this process “with end-to-end translation and cultural adaptations to ensure a seamless and locally relevant customer experience”.
Meanwhile, the opening of a dedicated US 3PL facility has improved delivery times — something that’s vital for European businesses aiming to crack the US market — as well as strengthening logistics capacity, and improving the overall customer experience.
Marketing chief Dan Sorensen said: “Following on from key infrastructural investments made previously, we’ve been able to scale profitably both domestically and internationally giving us an opportunity to serve our customers better across all borders.”
During the year in question and since it ended, the company has been extremely busy. Just before the latest financial year finished, it acquired Lavish Alice for an undisclosed seven-figure sum, “uniting two leading, legacy brands”.
Then in July, it launched a localised German website and in September launched on Middle Eastern e-commerce platform Ounass.
It looks like Frasers Group may be planning to relaunch Matchesfashion in 2026 although it’s not a dead cert and there’s been no confirmation from the company.
Matchesfashion
A report said the Matchesfashion.com website was back online with the words “relaunching 2026” under the name. But the situation is unclear as all that’s there as we published this story was an almost-empty page in the brand’s familiar green tone with no mention of a relaunch date.
A relaunch wouldn’t exactly come as a shock, although the speed with which Frasers had earlier closed the business did surprise some.
Frasers acquired the business out of administration for a reported £52 million just before Christmas 2023 but put it into administration in March 2024, citing the enormity of the task to turn it around.
Matches — which began as a physical retailer — had been one of the pioneers of luxury online retail and once had a valuation of around £800 million. But a succession of CEOs failed to turn it into a digital-first business that was able to make a profit.
Its struggles came at the same time as other pioneers such as Farfetch and Net-A-Porter encountered their own profitability problems.
But despite the problem with online luxury real, the big names in the sector remain valuable properties with a high profile. Coupang’s acquisition of Farfetch and LuxExperience’s purchase of Yoox Net-A-Porter highlighted how in-demand they are.
As for Matchesfashion, there had been rumours of a comeback for it and in May, The Times reported that Frasers was working on a “members-only Matches Fashion relaunch” and that it had seen an “internal pitch deck” suggesting the luxury fashion webstore could be turned into what it described as the “Soho House of retail”.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton presented its first Life 360 Awards to recognise environmental progress in the group, in the same week as it celebrated earning the coveted CDP triple ‘A’ score.
A snapshot of LVMH’s Life 360 Awards – Lucas Barioulet
Held inside LVMH’s global HQ on Paris’ Avenue Montaigne on Wednesday evening, the group presented awards to 13 winning initiatives. These were selected from 187 submitted projects by 41 Maisons in a carefully staged presentation designed to highlight the environmental transformation undertaken by LVMH.
Teams from LVMH brands from several continents joined via video link- from Tiffany in New York and Chandon in Sao Paulo to Loro Piana in Milan and champagne marques gathered in Epernay.
“The Life 360 Awards illustrate how our Maisons are advancing the group’s environmental roadmap. This collective momentum confirms that these issues are at the very heart of our strategy… The winning initiatives point us in a clear direction: a responsible form of luxury, underpinned by concrete and ambitious action,” said Antoine Arnault, image and environment, LVMH, and the driving force behind the project.
Arnault, eldest son of LVMH’s chairman and controlling shareholder Bernard Arnault, in particular celebrated that LVMH had again been recognised with a CDP triple ‘A’ rating for its action on climate, forests, and water.
The giant French luxury behemoth underlined that its Life 360 environmental program (LVMH Initiatives For the Environment), is structured around five pillars: Climate, Biodiversity, Creative Circularity, Traceability & Transparency, and Stakeholders. With the group keen to publicly highlight successful initiatives and results.
All told, it claimed to have achieved a 55% reduction in its direct greenhouse gas emissions, reaching its 2026 target two years ahead of schedule. The preservation and regeneration of more than 3.8 million hectares of natural habitats. An increase to 33% in the share of recycled materials used in products and packaging. And the reduction of around one-third in its indirect emissions.
“The award-winning initiatives reflect the quality of the work carried out collectively around Life 360. They demonstrate tangible progress and create genuine momentum across the group by encouraging the sharing of the most effective solutions between our Maisons and with our supplier partners,” said Hélène Valade, environmental development director, LVMH.
The winning projects were selected by a jury composed of Group executives and experts.
Among the winners, Tiffany & Co. installed significant solar capacity at the Maison’s diamond cutting and polishing facility in Botswana, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, as well as training and hiring local craftspeople for the project.
Moët Hennessy reduced its transport-related carbon footprint, by notably increasing the share of maritime and rail transport. That led, in 2025, to a reduction of nearly 50% in transport-related carbon emissions compared with 2019.
Other awards went to Celine, Louis Vuitton, Rimowa, Chaumet, Christian Dior Couture, and Christian Dior Parfums, the latter for an ambitious strategy aimed at gradually phasing out virgin fossil-based plastics from customer.
While Guerlain played on its historic links to bees in an awareness-raising initiative on the role of these insects, delivered by employees and aimed at primary-school pupils around the world. And, via Women For Bees, a program in partnership with UNESCO enabling women to become beekeepers.
In terms of transparency, Bulgari dreamed up its own Digital Passport, via micro-engraving on each creation, readable via a smartphone scan using Al- revealing gemmological certificates, origin, and craftsmanship.
In addition to these awards, the jury presented a special ‘coup de cœur’ Prize to Moët Hennessy in recognition of its Living Soils, Living Together program, where the Champagne and Wines & Spirits labels work to reduce their environmental footprint.
Among which, Château Galoupet, a Cru Classé Côtes de Provence acquired by LVMH in 2019, has already been certified organic since 2023- deploying a regenerative viticulture approach. Covering crops on 100% of the vineyard, more than 2.6 km of agroforestry hedgerows, regenerative hydrology structures, increased soil organic matter, and the installation of numerous shelters for biodiversity.
If at times, the mood seemed a tad self-congratulatory among LVMH executives, one was also struck by the sense that the Group’s senior management had put real pressure on many brands to come up with genuine environmentally friendly solutions. Which made the whole event a plausible reason for applause and optimism.
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