The Rich List 2019: who from fashion made the cut?
It has been one of the most brutal years in recent history on Britain's high street, which has been borne out in the decreasing wealth of some of fashion retail's biggest names, not least of which is Sir Philip Green, whose wealth was cut in half meaning, for the first time in 17 years, he can no long claim to be a billionaire.
His successor at the high street's most powerful man, Sports Direct's Mike Ashley, can still lay claim to being a billionaire but his fortune was diminished by £461m to just under £2bn. The fact does not seemed to have dimmed his ambition to buy more retailers however.
His drop in fortunes leave him 10 places in the list behind Bernard Lewis and family, the low profile entrepreneur behind the River Island chain. The Lewis Family Trust recently expanded its interest in fashion retail taking full control of the Mint Velvet chain and, despite tough conditions on the high street, the family's wealth swelled by £109m to £2.234bn, making them the wealthiest on the high street.
In turn they trail behind the Weston family whose eye watering £10.5bn comes, in part, thanks to its ownership of Selfridges, and Kering chief Francois-Henri Pinault and his highly successful film star wife Salma Hayek.
Further down the fashion list drops in fortune for the faces behind brands such as Superdry, Ted Baker, Reiss and Monsoon are testament to tough trading conditions on the high street. Superdry co-founder Julian Dunkerton, however, hasn't taken a £240m drop in his fortunes lightly and has muscled his way back into the driving seat of the company and has promised to return the brand and its share price (and his personal fortune) back to former glories.
At the opposite ends of the e-commerce scale are two great, entrepreneurial success stories. Tom and Ruth Chapman, founders of luxury retailer Matchesfashion.com, saw their £450m wealth grow by £5m while the Kamani family, behind the Boohoo empire, grew their wealth by £163m to £1.163bn. Co-founder Carol Kane grew her personal fortune by £21m to £141m.
Boohoo's great rival ASOS has had a tough year issuing a shock profits warning and having seen its share price greatly eroded (though it has started to recover). Founder Nick Robertson's wealth has diminished by £194m (or more than half) to £178m. Robertson cashed in some £15m worth of shares last month but retains a 5.53% stake.
The Sunday Times Rich List 2019: how fashion fared.
Name | Company | Rank 2019 | Rank 2018 | Value | Increase/decrease in wealth |
Guy, George and Galen Weston
|
Selfridges, Primark | 13 | 9 | £10.5bn
|
+£450m |
François-Henri Pinault and Salma Hayek
|
Kering | 21 | 26 | £6.842bn | +£1.716bn |
Bernard Lewis and family
|
River Island | 64 | 63 | £2.234bn | +£109m |
Mike Ashley | Sports Direct | 74 | 58 | £1.976bn | -£461m |
Philip Day | Edinburgh Woollen Mill | 125 | 115 | £1.2bn | No change |
Mahmud Kamani and family | Boohoo | 131 | 136= | £1.163bn | +£163m |
Tom & Ruth Chapman | Matchesfashion.com | 298 | 287 | £455m | +£5m |
Leon Max | Leon Max | 324 | 312 | £410m | No change |
Dame Margaret and Helen Barbour and family
|
Barbour | 336 | 355 | £395m | +£40m |
Peter Simon and family
|
Monsoon/Accessorize | 344 | 268 | £387m | -£93m |
Johnnie Boden and family | Boden | 348 | 339 | £380m | +£5m |
David and Victoria Beckham and family | David Beckham Ventures, Victoria Beckham | 372 | 372 | £355 | +£15m |
Tom Singh and family | New Look | 385 | 344 | £340m | -£30m |
Ray Kelvin | Ted Baker | 416 | 244 | £309m | -£213m |
Sir Paul and Lady Smith | Paul Smith | 490 | 480= | £250m | No change |
David Reiss and family | Reiss | 507 | 480= | £240m | -£10m |
Lord Alli | Formerly ASOS, now Koovs | 564 | 584 | £212m | £12m |
Julian Dunkerton | Superdry | 604 | 297 | £201m | -£240m |
Nick Robertson | ASOS | £178m | -£194m | ||
Dame Natalie Massenet | Imaginary Ventures, Farfetch (formerly Net-A-Porter.com) | 787 | 862 | £150m | +£15m |
Carol Kane | Boohoo | 848 | 942 | £141m | +£21m |
Tom Joule and family | Joules | 900= | 804 | £130m | -£17m |
Julian and Marc Worth | Stylus (formerly WGSN) | 900= | 836 | £130m | -£10m |