Boden — or JP Boden Holdings Limited Group to give it its full name — has released its 2024 results and they show turnover jumping last year.
Boden
Following a “challenging” 2023, it bounced back in the next year and as well as the strong sales growth, its also saw customer growth and a return to profitability.
Looking at the numbers, group turnover was up 19% to £362.8 million with profit before tax of £34.6 million after a 2023 £12.3 million loss. Profit after tax of £26.1 million also swung from loss of £9.4 million the previous year.
Meanwhile active customers were up 10% year on year to 1.8 million while cash increased by £46 million to £70.2 million.
The company said that it saw growth across all major markets with US sales up to £161.7 million from £133.2 million, while UK and rest-of-world sales jumped to £201.1 million from £171.3 million.
Notable highlights included it being the firm’s strongest year to date for US Womenswear sales, particularly dresses and knitwear. It also saw growth in Childrenswear and the reintroduction of the Baby category.
It was helped by the expansion of third-party partnerships, including Nordstrom in the US and Next in the UK and saw higher average order values and improved margins through reduced discounting.
2025 is looking good too with first-half sales growth of 9% and a “significant increase” in profit, with its “best season ever” for full-price womenswear. It has seen double-digit sales growth in the US, and that market now accounts for almost half of this very British brand’s sales.
The company also said that investment in customer recruitment, has delivered 300,000+ new customers in the first half of the year and it has enjoyed further growth in average order values.
It made a major investment in new website platform and customer service systems, which went live in January to improve efficiency, service and delivery of new functionality.
But it’s managing costs and cash “prudently in light of global economic and trade uncertainties”.
This year has also seen it naming Ben Dreyer its new CEO and joining the board while Suzanne Foley, who continues as CFO, also took a seat on the board.
It all comes as the company preps for its first US store. In November it will open a 2,000 square foot space at the Avalon Centre in Alpharetta, Atlanta – “a major milestone in the brand’s US growth strategy”.
Founder and creative director Johnnie Boden said: “After a tricky few years, I’m so proud that the team has delivered a fantastic turnaround, returning Boden to growth and profitability. We’ve had a resoundingly positive response to our refreshed product ranges, especially in Womenswear. We have also acquired a lot of new customers, both in the UK and overseas. The business is in great shape to build on this momentum; the opening of our first US store in November will help us strengthen our presence in our fastest-growing market.”
Beware the march of the robots! The majority of routine retail tasks are set to be replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) by 2035, according to new data.
Artificial intelligence will have a huge impact on the retail sector – Photo: Pixabay
Nearly 60% of retail tasks across core functions could be augmented or automated by AI, according to a new report from law firm Eversheds Sutherland and research agency Retail Economics, seen by CityAM.
The report noted that UK retailers are set to spend a third of their budgets on AI-aligned tech next year to help allay concerns over rising costs, with 69% expecting to increase investment within two years.
While “the speed of this shift sets the UK among the most advanced global markets”, the report also warns that progress is “increasingly vulnerable to longstanding operational barriers”.
Andrew Todd, partner at Eversheds Sutherland, said: “AI will primarily handle routine and data-driven tasks, leaving more able to focus on strategy, creativity, judgement and customer engagement”.
Todd predicts that new specialist positions will emerge in the sector, while traditional roles “evolve” in the AI-influenced environment.
The report claims a host of analysts and pundits have predicted a rapid shift in working patterns. McKinsey, for example, has outlined “a partnership between people, agents, and robots”.
And the march towards A1 is already in high gear, as it highlights McKinsey’s claim that the number of adverts for jobs vulnerable to AI’s impact is down 38% compared to three years ago.
Richard Lim, CEO at Retail Economics, added that the next decade will “see a profound shift in how work is carried out across [retail].”
“Disruption will happen in waves as retailers test, learn and iterative generative and agentic AI technologies,” he added.
Cathcart London is set to bring British heritage menswear to the world stage next month, making its Pitti Uomo debut in Florence.
Cathcart London
Its appearance will be a “significant step in international expansion” for the 11-year-old family business, as the brand unveils its AW26 collection to international press and buyers across 13-16 January.
Director James Cathcart said: “Exhibiting at Pitti Uomo for the first time is a pivotal step for the brand and the market equally. Our goal has always been to excite, offering rare designs with honesty and integrity. Pitti is the ideal stage to present our classic British style to a new global audience.”
The AW26 collection will showcase eight distinct styles of tailored suit jackets all crafted from pure wool including flannel, worsted multi-stripe, and herringbone, headlined by the popular King Cole Double Breasted Jacket.
These are complemented by six styles of matching pure wool trousers, arriving in wide, classic and narrow heritage cuts. The collection is completed by double breasted and single breasted waistcoats, offered in four versatile colourways.
It also features six distinct knitwear styles, including the return of Fair Isle Jumper, Jazz Jumper and other original vintage inspired knits hand produced in England.
The workwear collection sees the return of the Deck Jacket and Battle Trousers, both made from 100% cotton corduroy, “offering a balance of sophisticated tailoring and versatile daily utility for the modern man”.
The outerwear range completes the collection, featuring three classic British heritage coat styles. These include a new Herringbone Ulster Coat crafted from luxury herringbone wool woven in Yorkshire, alongside returning favourites, the Polo Coat and the Mackinaw.
British premium brand Represent has unveiled its 22-piece ‘engLAnd’ ready-to-wear collection, which, as the title suggests, builds on the brand’s British heritage and its move into Los Angeles.
Represent
The launch also follows the “instant sell-out headwear capsule” earlier this year in collaboration with ’47 and therefore features the same handwritten script with typography “merging both a script and an old English style to create the now instantly recognisable engLAnd graphic”.
After being teased on Instagram by Represent founders George and Mike Heaton months ahead of the initial baseball cap launch, the capsule “became the most successful, fastest sell-through of the year”, they said.
So to meet the demand, Represent’s widening the engLAnd product offering with a curated selection of menswear and womenswear jersey apparel, footwear and accessories, “featuring the brand’s signature hand-distressed finish to give it an ‘LA vintage’-inspired look.
The range includes oversized hoodies, short- and long-sleeve T-shirts and joggers, while womenswear features cropped sweatshirts and baby tees, available in black, washed brown and flat white colourways.
The collection also sees the reappearance of the brand’s Realtree print, now in a washed white finish, featured on the long sleeve T-shirt, sweatshirt, baby tee and sweat pant silhouettes.
Accessories, of course, include the baseball cap, updated for Autumn/Winter in a monochromatic washed brown colourway, as well as a new beanie. The signature Represent HTN sneaker also receives a winter update, launching in premium black and brown Hairy Pony styles.
George Heaton added: “We knew the engLAnd design could be taken further since we first showed a piece of the headwear over a year ago, the progression came from a strong consumer response. This collection is really all about our brand DNA, it’s our heritage and inspiration, it’s our move to Los Angeles, that’s what it represents.”
The engLAnd AW25 collection launches on representclo.com, its flagship store in London, and stores in Manchester & Los Angeles.