Fashion chain is key to Covid recovery

Innovative spirit is heralded as the force to drive growth after pandemic

A leading Peterborough employer has been held up as a prime example of the spirit needed to drive the UK’s recovery after Covid.

The praise comes after fashion retailer Yours Clothing, which employs 1,391 staff, was named among the top 200 companies with the fastest growing international sales.

The company, which has its head office in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, has been ranked in 111th place - a dip from last year’s 81st position after its overseas sales rose by 35 per cent over two years to the end of last February.

According to the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table, the firm’s international sales reached £11.4 million on total sales of £107.5 million.

It sells its plus-sized clothing direct to consumers in more than 100 countries and last August acquired womenswear firm Long Tall Sally for an undisclosed sum.

Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC UK, said: “After a challenging start to 2021, all eyes are on the companies that will drive a return to growth in 2021. We are confident the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of businesses such as Yours Clothing will carry them forward.”

Yours Clothing sits alongside high profile British brands including Sweaty Betty, BrewDog and Brompton.

John Bridge, chief executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “It is definitely the innovation shown by companies like Yours Clothing that will lead the country’s recovery from Covid. Anyone who thinks there will be a return to the ‘normal’ of March 2020 will be caught in a chill wind.”

Andrew Killingsworth, founder of Yours Clothing.