Topshop

Summary

From retailing youthful apparel and acting as an incubator for prodigious young design talent to evolving into a cult, British high street stalwart Topshop has an interesting brand journey.

History

Founded in 1964 as an internal label of women’s fashion chain Peter Robinson, the fashion brand was initially named ‘Peter Robinson’s Top Shop’ and retailed collections of young British fashion designers such as Mary Quant and Stirling Cooper. The youthful brand within the Sheffield and Oxford Street shops slowly became a rage as high fashion for the “young and different generation” per The Times. By 1966 it had a shop in Peter Robinson, Norwich.

Peter Robinson’s parent company Burton Group envisioned expanding its womenswear in 1973 and split Top Shop by Peter Robinson into two chains — Peter Robinson and Top Shop. While Peter Robinson targetted the over twenty-five market, Top Shop focused on the youth with Ralph Halpern at the helm. By 1974 Top Shop was evolving independently while retaining the co-branded shop in Oxford Street — and was described as “highly profitable”. Its retail rivals were key players like Miss Selfridge and Way In at Harrods. Within two years Top Shop had fifty-five standalone shops. Fashion critic Prudence Glynn wrote Topshop had “a sharp definition of purpose” and the fashion brand reported profits of £1m that year and by 1978, accounted for a third of Burton’s operating profits.

A buyer of Peter Robinson’s Top Shop, Diane Wadey, had an eye for talent and connected both  Jeff Cooper and Ronnie Stirling with Jane Whiteside: together they set up Stirling Cooper which was sold exclusively at Top Shop, London and Sheffield. Amongst the other designers stocked by Top Shop were Jeff Banks, French Connection and Radley Cooper. Top Shop was now acclaimed for retailing clothes conceived for the young generation of London, per The Times. In 1978 Burton envisioned a share of the men’s fashion pie and launched “Topman”. Both brands were highly profitable.

In the Nineties Topshop launched its first online store for the UK. This is credited to Jane Shepherdson who came on board as brand director. Under her tenure, Topshop became a key sponsor of London Fashion Week and since 2005, an integral part of London Fashion Week. In 2007 supermodel Kate Moss designed her debut line for the brand, artist Stella Vine designed a limited edition collection inspired by her art and Beyoncé launched activewear with Topshop.

In 2012 Arcadia Group sold twenty five per cent stake in Topshop and Topman to private equity group Leonard Green and Partners for reported US $805 million to aid the brand’s expansion into the US. Per the deal, Arcadia retained Topshop’s flagship at Oxford Street. In 2013 Topshop opened a concession at Galeries Lafayette in Paris, its first outlet in France. The following year, Topshop opened on Fifth Avenue while expanding into Asia, Australia, USA, Europe and Africa.

The winds of fortune changed and sadly Arcadia Group was near bankrupt post- pandemic. It was losing ground before the pandemic hit to new fast-fashion e-commerce player which offered cutting-edge styles at lower prices. Topshop was slow to leverage social media as well while product dilution and failure to rule key markets further weakened its roots. That said, it would be a shame if cult brands TopShop and TopMan disappear from the high street. A statement from Deloitte, which is handling the bankruptcy, confirmed that Arcadia — which includes Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge, Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Evans and Wallis — would work with Deloitte evaluating recourses, protecting the business from its creditors and seeking potential buyers.

“This is an incredibly sad day for all of our colleagues as well as our suppliers and our many other stakeholders” said Ian Grabiner, CEO, Arcadia, in a statement. “Throughout this immensely challenging time our priority has been to protect jobs and preserve the financial stability of the Group in the hope that we could ride out the pandemic and come out fighting on the other side. Ultimately, however, in the face of the most difficult trading conditions we have ever experienced, the obstacles we encountered were far too severe.”

in 2011, online fashion retailer ASOS acquired Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT for a reported £330 million. “We are extremely proud to be the new owners of the Topshop, Topman, Miss Selfridge and HIIT.” ASOS CEO Nick Beighton said in a statement. “The acquisition of these iconic British brands is a hugely exciting moment for ASOS and our customers and will help accelerate our multi-brand platform strategy. We have been central to driving their recent growth online and under our ownership we will develop them further using our design, marketing, technology and logistics expertise and working closely with key strategic retail partners in the UK and around the world.”

Mission

Topshop’s mission statement is “To produce fashionable products in an ethical way and demonstrate a responsible attitude towards people and the environment.”

Vision

Topshop lives in the intersection of high fashion and fast fashion making the aspirational accessible with creative integrity, fashion authority and excitement. The fashion brand envisions providing youth worldwide with the latest fashions.  The youthful fashion brand’s vision statement is:  “To be a Global Style Authority and driving the democratisation of fashion.”

Products and Services

Topshop retails youthful apparel and accessories and originally sold fashion by young British designers such as Mary Quant and Stirling Cooper.

Awards and Recognition

TOPSHOP is recognized as a cult youthful British fashion brand for women’s clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021.

Key Team

• Ian Grabiner (CEO)
• Jørgen Lindemann (Chair: Asos)
• José Antonio Ramos Calamonte (CEO: Asos)
• Mai Fairfield ( Senior Independent Non-executive Director and Chair of the Remuneration Committee)

References

• Official website Topshop
• Beyonce X Topshop Vogue
• Asos acquires Topshop, Topman and Miss Selfridge in £330m deal Retail Gazette
• Topshop closes all its US stores Refinery
• LinkedIn page of Topshop LinkedIn
• Topshop opens first French store in Paris in Galeries Lafayette Retail Week
• Another Day, Another Cara Delevingne Campaign! Grazia
• What does the demise of Arcadia and Debenhams mean for British fashion? GQ
• Facebook page of Topshop Facebook
• Report: Topshop Bankruptcy Imminent BoF
• Twitter page of Topshop Twitter
• Topshop Operator Arcadia Group Files for Bankruptcy in the U.S. WSJ
• Instagram page of Topshop Instagram
• Youtube channel of Topshop Youtube
• Topshop Turmoil Is A Blow For Diversity Forbes
• Wiki page of Topshop Wikipedia
• UK’s Topshop to open on Fifth Avenue New York Reuters
• ASOS Snapchat account Snapchat
• How Topshop’s runway shows became a must-see success Independent
• Beyoncé steals limelight at Topshop launch CNBC