Fashion chain Hobbs winds up sister label NW3 after £1.9m loss
Hobbs’ trendy NW3 fashion line is to disappear by the end of the year as part of chairman Phil Wrigley’s turnaround plan for the loss-making group.
The former New Look boss, who joined Hobbs in January, is leading a restructuring of the retailer after it suffered a £1.9m loss last year and saw sales slump 8.2 per cent.
Dismal trading over the Christmas period forced its private equity owner 3i to write down the value of its 47 per cent stake in Hobbs by £14m to just £21m.
Hobbs has ruled that this season’s autumn/winter collection will be its last for NW3 after a strategic review carried out in March that found that having the two brands confused shoppers.
Wrigley told The Sunday Telegraph that customers found some of NW3’s designs “too quirky, forced and unnatural”.
In June Hobbs named former John Lewis’ fashion buying director Meg Lustman as chief executive.