Fri, 15 Jul 2022 | BUSINESS SALE
Savile Row tailor Gieves & Hawkes has been put up for sale after its owner, Hong Kong-listed fashion firm Trinity Group, was placed into liquidation. Gieves & Hawkes, which traces its history back 250 years, is one of the UK’s most prominent tailors, holding three royal warrants.
The business is headquartered at No 1 Savile Row, the centre of the London tailoring industry, and as of May 2021 had 58 stores across 21 cities. In the firm’s latest available accounts at Companies House, for the year ending December 31 2020, it reported total losses of £91,837.
While this represented an improvement on 2019, when the company made restated losses of slightly over £2 million, the report highlighted the major issues facing the company, which included post-Brexit supply chain difficulties and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Gieves & Hawkes said the impact of the pandemic on its UK business had been “sudden and significant”, with stores forced into closure during government-mandated lockdowns. In addition to the impact of lockdowns, many luxury fashion retailers saw their business severely hampered during the pandemic due to the cancellation of the majority of formal events and the increasing popularity of flexible working, which has persisted despite the end of pandemic restrictions.
Trinity was placed into liquidation last year and, in November 2021, a winding-up order was issued against Gieves & Hawkes and sister brands Cerutti and Kent & Curwen in a Hong Kong court, after the parent company defaulted on a loan. At that time, companies including formalwear firm Hawes & Curtis and retailer Marks & Spencer were reportedly considering bids for Gieves & Hawkes.
Trinity Group is controlled by the Shandong Ruyi Technology Group, which had acquired numerous brands around the world before ultimately going into liquidation in December 2021, losing several of its brands to creditors and threatening Gieves & Hawkes with closure.
In June 2022, Gieves & Hawkes secured a credit facility from restructuring firm Hilco for an undisclosed sum and advisers have now begun to formally solicit bids for the company. The sale process, which is being run in the UK and Hong Kong by FTI Consulting, is expected to complete this year and will include the company’s UK business, as well as operations and licensing agreements in China, according to sources close to the deal.
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