£1.8m boost for Duchess’s designer
ALICE Temperley’s designer fashion label – favoured by the Duchess of Cambridge – has raised £1.8million as part of plans to boost the fortunes of the loss-making business.
Temperley London raised the money from existing shareholders, who include banker Rupert Hambro and founder Temperley herself. Backers have previously invested more than £3million since 2015.
A spokesman said the latest fundraising will be used ‘to support significant growth’ at the fashion retailer’s online shopping and wholesale businesses. The company, which sells a popular budget range through John Lewis, has attracted a celebrity following since it was launched in West London in 2000. But it admits there has been ‘material uncertainty’ about the future of the brand since losses slumped to £2.8 million in 2014.
The firm is now striving to make Temperley ‘a more coherent luxury lifestyle brand’. The group closed its underperforming Los Angeles store, ended unprofitable contracts with distributors and ensured that more of its products were sourced in Europe rather than the Far East.
Temperley’s action plan helped revenues to climb by 5 per cent in 2016 to £11.7 million.
Growth almost doubled to 9 per cent last year and losses before tax and other exceptional costs narrowed significantly to about £200,000.