Kate’s favourite Jigsaw solves a multi-million profits puzzle
SOME fashion brands are built to last – and Duchess of Cambridge favourite Jigsaw is clearly among them.
The label, now five decades old, is finding a new lease of life with shoppers who want their style, and clothes, to endure for years.
With signs that Britain’s obsession with throwaway fashion is on the wane, Jigsaw is looking at establishing itself in market towns where it believes its ‘heartland shoppers’ – stylish women in their 40s and 50s – live.
It plans to open stores in Market Harborough in Leicestershire, St Albans in Hertfordshire, and Surrey towns Reigate and Cobham.
Celebrity fans include TV presenter Holly Willoughby and Kate, who worked briefly as an accessories buyer for the chain before her engagement to Prince William.
Chief executive Beth Butterwick said its shoppers were ‘confident’ women who ‘buy less, buy better’. She added: ‘Fit and fabric is important – cashmere, silk and linen. We’re not instant fashion.’
The brand will also move out of city centre stores and busy shopping centres where younger, more price-conscious buyers scan the rails for the cheapest options.
‘We have very few [shops] in city centres,’ Ms Butterwick said. ‘We’re in market towns and regional centres – where customers tend to be local shoppers who go there a lot.’
Of its customers, she said: ‘They’re stylish and confident. They want to look modern and relevant with their friends. They’re not slavish to social media. [When we ask them] they reference a multitude of media and they still like print [magazines].’
Her formula seems to be working. Jigsaw reversing a £21million loss in 2020, to a £1.2million profit last year, with dress sales clocking up a record of more than £7million this season.