After the mid 2020 trading announcement of N Brown (to year end 29th February), the home shopping group laid out their intentions to rationalise the number of brands and adopt a refreshed new strategy with priorities for growth. In the year to 29.02.2020 the company declared an adjusted pre-tax profit of £59.5 million (a fall of some 28.8% over previous).
As part of this strategy from March 2021 the entire operations of Figleaves.com will be folded into their business via the Simply Be brand, meaning that the current Figleaves site and warehouse will be closed from the end of February this year. All operations under the Figleaves brand will be traded from N Brown’s Head Office in Manchester. Reportedly internal consultation has taken place with Figleaves workforce with a formal redundancy process already completed.
A N Brown spokesperson commented: “Last year we shared a refreshed strategy which included plans to simplify the customer proposition and focus on our five core brands, meaning that other brands are either being folded into the core brands, or closed down. Figleaves is being folded into Simply Be, meaning that the products will be traded from our Head Office in Manchester and fulfilled via our Distribution Centres in Oldham and Hadfield. We have informed colleagues and an internal consultation has taken place.”
The five core brands are womenswear brands Simply Be, J D Williams and Ambrose Wilson with menswear brand Jacamo and Home Essentials.
Figleaves.com was founded in 1998 by Daniel Nabarro and Michael Ross and was the first e-commerce site entirely devoted to lingerie. In 2010 it was purchased by the N Brown Group for £11.5 million despite not turning a profit until 2012 in the UK. It offers a wide range of lingerie, swim and nightwear brands to suit virtually all body types and has its own Figleaves brand which is traded not only to the N Brown Group (via J D Williams) but also on Amazon and E-Bay.
