Jack Wills
 |
|
| Private | |
| Industry |
Fashion Clothing Apparel |
| Genre | Retail |
| Founded | 1999 (Salcombe, Devon) |
| Founder | Peter Williams Robert Shaw |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
|
Number of locations
|
320 |
|
Area served
|
United Kingdom Ireland United States Singapore Hong Kong Macau Kuwait United Arab Emirates Lebanon |
| Products | Clothing |
| Revenue |
 £421 million (2014-15)
|
 £72.1 million (2014-15)
|
|
|
Number of employees
|
1,130 (2009) |
| Website | www.jackwills.com www.jackwillsoutlet.com |
Jack Wills is a British clothing brand.
Peter Williams and Robert Shaw founded the brand in 1999. Williams was 23 when the first store opened at 22 Fore Street, Salcombe and it was created with £40,000 – the founders slept above the shop. The brand was named after one of the co-founders' grandparents.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Williams said "When I started thinking about a premium brand I dredged up this vision of what I remembered in Salcombe. I thought, 'What if I could create a brand that could bottle what being at a British university was all about and all the cool amazing stuff that goes with that?' It's such a uniquely cherished part of your life. I thought if you could create a brand that epitomised that it would be very compelling."
The brand was a success, with a second store being opened in Fulham, London, in October the same year. The store was ram-raided and was closed down, but a further store was opened in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. As the business grew, Jack Wills stores were opened in places with universities or private schools, such as Eton, Oxford, Winchester and St Andrews.
Originally, it was heavily marketed towards university students, using the slogan and trademark "University Outfitters" to reflect the inspiration behind the brand.
Today, the brand is partly owned by Jack Wills Ltd, a private limited company registered in the UK, while a 27% stake is held by the private equity firm Inflexion after an investment deal in 2007. In 2011, the company was valued at £140 million, of which co-founders Williams and Shaw hold a 52% stake and 21% stake, respectively.
In 2012, Williams debuted on the Sunday Times Rich List, coming in at number 370, with an estimated worth of £200 million ($326 million).
In May 2013, Williams announced he was stepping aside as CEO to become a non-executive director. Former Chief Marketing Officer of Vodafone, Wendy Becker, was appointed as CEO soon afterwards.
In February 2014, it was announced that fashion designer Richard Nicoll was to become the new creative director of Jack Wills, to come into effect Spring 2015.
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Wikipedia