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Marks & Spencer to add more third-party fashion brands

Lauretta Roberts
20 January 2021

Marks & Spencer is accelerating its third-party brand strategy for fashion having reportedly signed deals to sell Joules, Phase Eight, Hobbs and Seasalt online and in-store from this Spring.

According to The Times, the brands were targeted due to their crossover with M&S's core customer base and would help drive more sales online.

Last year M&S signed its first third-party fashion partnership with Nobody's Child and began selling the ethical fashion label online. It has since collaborated with Ghost and last week acquired the Jaeger brand, though none of its shops, from Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group.

M&S CEO Steve Rowe has previously said the plan for third-party brands was not to turn the retailer – which has thus far focused on its own brands such as Per Una and Autograph – into a department store.

Speaking after the M&S Christmas trading update earlier this month, Rowe said: “M&S wants to build a curated set of brands and merchandise largely for our online business but also through filling some of that excess space we have in stores.

We’ve got no intention of turning M&S into a department store at all. This is about finding and partnering with adjacent brands. Adjacent in terms of style, adjacent in terms of customer base that enhance the M&S offer and make it the place to go to for an online shop.”

M&S is also said to be in the running to acquire some of the brands from Sir Philip Green's collapsed retail empire Arcadia. Rival high street giant Next is said to be in pole position to acquire flagship brand Topshop in a joint bid with US investor Davidson Kempner.

Other Arcadia brands looking for a new home include Burton, Miss Selfridge, Dorothy Perkins and Wallis. Administrator Deloitte had set a deadline of this Monday for bids.

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