Marks & Spencer has bought collapsed fashion brand Jaeger, which had been part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill stable of retailers now in administration.
Richard Price, boss of M&S’s clothing and home division, said: “We have set out our plans to sell complementary third-party brands as part of our Never The Same Again programme to accelerate our transformation and turbocharge online growth.
“In line with this, we have bought the Jaeger brand and are in the final stages of agreeing the purchase of product and supporting marketing assets from the administrators of Jaeger Retail Limited. We expect to fully complete later this month.”
The possibility of a deal was revealed last week by Sky’s City editor Mark Kleinman.
No purchase figures were disclosed but the PA news agency reported it was believed to be around £5m.
The agency also reported that the deal would mean no store staff from Jaeger were expected to keep their jobs, and physical sites – currently closed due to lockdown restrictions – would be expected to close permanently.
Last week, M&S chief executive Steve Rowe gave a Christmas trading update and explained why the business was teaming up and buying new brands.
He 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.”
The brand was part of the clothing empire owned by Philip Day, the Dubai-based tycoon who was forced to appoint administrators to Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group (EWM) last November.
At the time, London-based Jaeger had 76 stores and concessions, employing 347 staff.
Retail has been one of the sectors worst hit by the economic impact of the pandemic, with chains from Marks & Spencer and John Lewis to Boots and DW Sports announcing thousands of job cuts.
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