Follow us

Menu
PARTNER WITH USFREE NEWSLETTER
VISIT TheIndustry.beauty

The Rich List 2019: who from fashion made the cut?

Lauretta Roberts
12 May 2019

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.

Julian Dunkerton Superdry

Julian Dunkerton

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

Mahmud Kamani and Carol Kane

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

 

Free NewsletterVISIT TheIndustry.beauty
cross