Superdry
 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| LSE: SGP | |
| Industry | Retail |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Headquarters | Cheltenham, United Kingdom |
Key people | Peter Bamford, Chairman Euan Sutherland, CEO |
| Products | Clothing |
| Revenue | £486.6 million (2015)[1] |
| £63.9 million (2015)[1] | |
| £46.0 million (2015)[1] | |
| Website | www |
SuperGroup plc is a British international branded clothing company, and owner of the Superdry label. Superdry products combine vintage Americana styling with Japanese inspired graphics. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
History
Cult Clothing Co was established by Ian Hibbs and Julian Dunkerton in Cheltenham in 1985, at which time it was trading as "Cult Clothing".[2][3] It expanded during the 1990s and established stores in a number of UK university towns and cities, from Oxford and Cambridge to Edinburgh and Belfast. It opened its first store under the Superdry name in Covent Garden in London in 2004.[4]
Under Theo Karpathios, a nationwide then global expansion of Superdry took place, with stores opening in major towns and cities all over the UK, the majority in university cities. As of 2012[update] the brand was sold in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, South America, the Middle East, Australia and Asia.
The business floated on the London Stock Exchange in March 2010.[5] Dunkerton appeared in the Sunday Times Rich List 2010, and was estimated to be worth £180m.[6]
The company issued a profits warning and placed its store opening plans under review in February 2012; the share price quickly dropped by 18%.[7]
On 22 October 2014, it was announced that Dunkerton stepped down as CEO of Superdry and was replaced by Euan Sutherland, the ex-CEO of the The Co-operative Group.[8]
In February 2016 Dunkerton sold four million shares at £12 per share (just under £50m), but remained the largest shareholder with a 27% stake in the group.[9] Superdry is an exciting contemporary brand which focuses on high-quality products that fuse vintage Americana and Japanese-inspired graphics with a British style. They are characterised by quality fabrics, authentic vintage washes, unique detailing, world leading hand-drawn graphics and tailored fits with diverse styling. Such distinctiveness has gained the brand exclusive appeal as well as an international celebrity following. Superdry has a significant and growing presence around the world, operating through 515 Superdry branded locations in 46 countries. There are 139 owned stores across the UK and mainland Europe, 208 franchised and licensed stores, all but one outside the UK, and 168 concessions. Superdry.com sells safely and securely to over 100 countries worldwide, operating from 21 international websites. The Superdry delivery promise is one of the best in the marketplace offering great customer service and a hassle-free returns policy.[10]
Image
Superdry does not overtly advertise and does not actively pursue celebrity endorsement, but a Brad leather jacket worn by football player David Beckham sold 70,000 from 2007 to mid-2009, becoming a best-seller for the company.[11][12]
The company's products include frequently meaningless excerpts of Japanese text, inspired by the common Japanese practice of placing decorative English text on items to increase their fashionability and appeal, a phenomenon known as Engrish. The company explained to a Japanese television crew in 2011 that they deliberately use simple machine translation to generate Japanese text, and that they are aware that the texts often have no meaning.[13] The Japanese text incorporated in the brand's logo—極度乾燥(しなさい) ([kyokudo kansō (shinasai)] Error: {{nihongo}}: text has italic markup (help))—literally translates as "Extreme dry (Do it)", the text in brackets being due to the translation software used offering alternatives depending on whether dry is intended as a noun (e.g., super dryness) or an imperative, (e.g., dry this shirt out).[14]
References
- ^ a b c "Annual Report 2015" (PDF). SuperGroup. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
- ^ "SuperGroup has super first quarter after implementation of new growth strategy". Retail Gazette. 2014-09-05. Retrieved 2015-03-29.
- ^ "Cheltenham staff to become millionaires overnight". 17 November 2009.
- ^ "Fashion retailer aims to build on the opening of its biggest UK store". Property Week. November 2009.(registration required)
- ^ Investors Snap Up Superdry Owner's Shares Sky News, 23 March 2010
- ^ Sunday Times Rich List: Who's up? This is money, 26 April 2010
- ^ Simon Bowers. "SuperGroup issues profits warning after Superdry's tough January". the Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
- ^ "Superdry founder replaced as CEO role by ex-Co-op boss". BBC News. 22 October 2014.
- ^ BBC News Superdry founder sells shares to fund his divorce 12 February 2016
- ^ http://www.superdry.com/about-us
- ^ Guardian (May 28, 2009), "David Beckham jacket tussle ends with rap on the knuckles for Primark", The Guardian, London, retrieved 2009-08-10
- ^ Daily Mail (May 30, 2009), Primark settle Beckham leather jacket tussle with Brit designers Superdry, London, retrieved 2009-08-10
{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ "Superdry: Popular UK Fashion Brand Uses Gibberish Japanese". Japan Probe. Retrieved 1 October 2014.
- ^ Wells, John. "Superdry". John Wells' Phonetics Blog.
External links
