Alice Temperley raises £1.8m to boost her luxury label

British fashion designer Alice Temperley has raised £1.8m to help boost the fortunes of her luxury fashion label.

Temperley raised the funds from existing shareholders, including banker Robert Hambro and the designer herself, and intends to use the cash to expand the label's online and wholesale operations.

According to This Is Money, the business, which also has a successful collaboration with department store John Lewis, wants to turn Temperley into a "more coherent luxury and lifestyle brand".

The business recorded sales of £11.7m in 2016 representing a growth of 5% on the prior year, and sales are said to have increased by a further 9% in 2017 with losses reduced to £200,000, a significant improvement on the £2.8m loss recorded in 2014.

In an interview with The Industry in September 2016, Temperley said she and her management team had spent the previous six months working on improving efficiency at the brand, which is known for its intricate embellishment and patterns, and getting its price points right.

She expressed then her ambitions to extend into lifestyle: “I’m from a textile background and just to do clothes is quite frustrating. We want to be more of a lifestyle brand, one that’s quintessentially British. All of the pattern and the details and the colour will translate into so many other products so that’s what we’ll be doing.”

Temperley founded her label in 2000 and it extends into daywear, eveningwear and bridal along with her Somerset collection for John Lewis. It has stores in Mayfair, Notting Hill and Bicester Village in the UK, as well as Dubai and Qatar.