{"id":160995,"date":"2019-03-14T19:31:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-14T19:31:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-how-fashions-mid-market-has-become-a-buyers-market\/"},"modified":"2021-08-12T13:55:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T13:55:15","slug":"in-my-view-how-fashions-mid-market-has-become-a-buyers-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theindustry.fashion\/in-my-view-how-fashions-mid-market-has-become-a-buyers-market\/","title":{"rendered":"In My View: How fashion's mid-market has become a buyers' market"},"content":{"rendered":"
Some of Britain\u2019s best known, mid-sized fashion brands are up for sale. French Connection, Pretty Green and Anya Hindmarch<\/strong> are all rumoured to be looking for new owners. Put LK Bennett<\/strong> into the mix, which recently when into administration, closing five stores and making 55 redundancies, and you have a slew of established British brands trying to forge the next chapter of their existence.<\/p>\n While Anya Hindmarch is more in the luxury pricing category, the others are all premium high-street;<\/strong> asking consumers to stump up more cash for their products in a mid-market squeezed between fast-fashion and \u201cluxury\u201d brands. This is an area that has suffered the most over recent years. Hooked on sales and discounts, many of these brands operate an unsustainable retail network, flabby business model and have suffered due to the demise of the traditional department store.<\/p>\n Putting themselves up for sale is timely. If you\u2019re a foreign investor, British companies have never been so cheap,<\/strong> due to the weakness in the pound and Brexit, but there\u2019s also a watch and wait attitude for most of the retail market at the moment, with many companies, particular private equity, being burnt, over the last few years, and only investing in strong, bankable billion dollar brands.<\/p>\n