LK Bennett

[1moreglassplease]

I saw the news at lunchtime that Linda Bennett was potentially calling in administrators. I know there were rumours last year about problems and it appears they were true (big losses). Personally I've never been a fan of the clothes and find them a bit frumpy and overpriced but I'm obviously sad that more people will lose jobs and we lose yet another name from the High Street.

I remember how brilliant LK Bennett was when they first opened, the prices were expensive but still reasonable and the quality excellent. But then things got ridiculously expensive for what it was, the clothing in particular. It's really sad they're going into administration but inevitable given how many stores they have as the rents they're paying must really eat into their profits. I think they have far too many stores given their market share. They should ditch their stores overseas too and concentrate on streamlining their products.

Also, like so many on the high street, they've start discounting far too often and customers begin to rely on it/wait for discounts. I've always thought that instead of discounting regularly, brands should just slightly lower their prices, after all, if you're able to constantly offer promotions of 20-25% off, then you're overpricing your product. (I can see Whistles finding themselves in a similar situation too, and I suspect this is why Jane Shepherdson sold her shares and left the business).

Hopefully LK will downsize their bricks and mortar presence and lower their price points, and this might be enough to save them. I hope so, if they disappear there'll be even less choice for shoes on the (higher end) of the high street.

I think the rot starts when the companies get sold to private equity firms/hedge funds, who seem to care more about short term profit than long term profit & growth & people's jobs.

Went into my local LK Bennett earlier to try on a several pairs of shoes I've seen online and they didn't have a single style in stock. This is part of their problem in as much as their instore shoe offering doesn't reflect their total offering and instead they seem to want to concentrate on their clothing sales as that accounts for 65% of their store offering. But that's obviously not working, so they should start bringing all footwear styles back into store.

I just find it strange that a brand that was build on footwear seems to not want to concentrate on it. If they did, and reduced their price points ever so slightly, they'd start bringing customers back.

Again when I worked for them, and were taken over, they introduced different grade stores. So online was full collection, A stores with a good selection were basically all in London then the odd one in money areas like Harrogate. Everything else was a b store, we held hardly anything but could order online to your home. It was a lot of money in rent to basically be n online shopping service, people just didn’t want to order £250 dresses without trying them on first

I've never bought a thing from thing and always preferred Jigsaw which at one point in the past had a slightly boho feel to some things. (Now I think they are crazy prices as well and everything is too large for me - too long.)

There was a good analysis of what's gone wrong with LKB on the BBC news page yesterday.
In a nutshell, it's too expensive for mid-range clothes.

If people can afford £400 they go for designer brands not high st.

I think the rot starts when the companies get sold to private equity firms/hedge funds, who seem to care more about short term profit than long term profit & growth & people's jobs.

She sold it for millions though- £20M is quoted- so you could say she was the greedy one. She bought it back for a fraction of that and has since made a loss.

LK Bennett became too expensive for the quality of their clothes. I predict that Jigsaw and Hobbs will head the same way if they do not address pricing and quality.

8Shookethtothecore*

That makes sense what you say re. the store's grading and their offerings. I live in Zone 1, so central London, and my local branch is in a very well-heeled area yet the offering is so poor which is surprising. Like os many others I have no problem ordering online but I also want to be able to go and try things on. I seem to buy less when I go shopping because so many stores don't have sizes or styles in stock. Surely this is a sign that they're offering way to much product if they can't offer a full range. I really do think the constant need to offer new goods is partly responsible for far too large a product line. I actually miss the days when you'd see an outfit in January and it would still be available to buy at Easter (usually by this time I'd saved up and could finally owe the outfit/shoes/bag/whatever I'd be dreaming of for months.)

I used to work in retail so I understand how much companies are paying on rent, business rates and running the store itself inc. staffing. With this in mind I'm even more surprised LK Bennett's bricks and mortar stores have got their offer so wrong.

As an aside, I think ridiculous rents and business rates are also part of the problem.Indeed, I recently discovered Russell and Bromley are paying £3million+ for one of their Bond Street sites, and given they have 2 branches on Bond Street, their rental fees must be staggering. I wonder how they make money too but think it's because they manufacture for other brands. I expect their high street presence to shrink within the next decade too.

Wow re Russell and Bromley rent There are two more stores in walking distance from Bond St on Oxford St - they must be looking to downsize their footprint (sorry)

I think R&B are getting it wrong - but it does seem to be improving. For a while there were no sales online and no refunds in the sale. And most of the stores look dated.

At least now you can shop online properly. But the range is still too wide and the styling is a bit Naice for me. For MOTB’s to wear for the week leading up to the wedding. They need a shake down and to get someone in from Chie Mihara or Penelope Chilvers or Anthology to to take some of the twee off.

I think shoppers are just getting more savvy as there are more and more choices and price ranges.

New Look went down the pan ( or declined) as people could use Primark.

I think what shoppers want is value for money. They are either happy to pay silly money for designer names, or cheap as chips, or somewhere in the middle that is reasonably priced. I'd put Boden (with 20% off or sale) into the last category, though accept it's too pricey for some.

No one is happy imo to pay £300 for a polyester dress.

Jigsaw - T shirts and simple tops are very overpriced yet in their sales they are 70% discounted (and they are still making a profit.)

People have wised up and want value.

But the thing is designer brands are now stupidly & obscenely expensive. Where I could once afford to buy a pair of Prada shoes, a Miu Miu handbag or coat, shoes are now retailing at upwards of £600, a coat or a handbag can easily be a few thousands pounds. Whereas for me it was once an affordable luxury (in a blue moon), now it's totally out of my league. And I resent paying what LK Bennett are charging as their product isn't worth it, Ditto Russell & Bromley. (ANother brand I think is awful). Mulberry tried to go upmarket and it backfired terribly, they're still struggling. Instead of trying to compete with luxury brands they should have gone for the M by Michael Kors space in the market. Mulberry's offering is way better, and their brand has more value, and they'd have made a killing.

I've never shopped at Primark as their business model of fast fashion doesn't sit well with me. I don't buy Boden because I don't like their products, it's just too frumpy and always misses the mark somehow, there's always something not quite right with anything. I did used to like their cashmere but even that's shoddy now. Mostly though their quality has nose-dived in recent years, and their product just isn't worth the money they're charging even when it's discounted.

I'd rather pay a bit more for a quality and well-made product that will last for years. Except nothing seems to last terribly long these days. So many shops are reliant on using man-made fabrics like polyester and charging silly prices for it. I remember complaining in Whistles about their £200+ polyester dresses and was told it's 'French polyester'. Polyester is polyester is polyester, no matter where it comes from.

And shops wonder why they're losing customers/or having to discount in order to make sales. It's really not rocket science what they need to do to win shoppers back.

Anyway, back to LK Bennett. The could dominate the market again because the only real competitors are R&B and Kurt Geiger. KG are appalling and have never understood their appeal. But KG do control most department store's shoe departments, so their purchasing power is huge. There's such a gap in the market between mass high street and designer for footwear that LK Bennett just need to go back to basics and concentrate on what used to make them a breath of fresh air when they first appeared on the scene. I really do hope the business is salvageable.

I agree that LK Bennett used to be a brand to which "normal" people like me with a mid range office job could aspire. I bought about a pair of shoes a year (often in the sales), dress for a wedding, red patent belt to cheer myself up, evening handbag for my Xmas present... All carefully saved up for. But once the prices went stratospheric- no point saving up, who spends £235 on a work dress ffs??- so I stopped going in.
Their returns policy was also draconian (see past threads on here) which didn't help.

LK Bennett’s internet sales system is bonkers. If you order to store, you don’t get any notification from LK Bennett that your parcel has arrived - just a text from DPD specifying that an unspecified parcel will be delivered today to an unspecified address. No mention whatsoever of LK Bennett.

When you collect, the (generally grumpy) staff look up a hand written book - no computer system - and hand over your parcel without requesting any ID before you sign to collect. Last time I did this, I inadvertently signed against someone else’s order. Staff member didn’t bother to check.

Compared to Hobbs and John Lewis they operate in the dark ages and desperately lack infrastructure.

French polyester

I wish Russell and Bromley would open in Dublin.
They've too many stores in London I think with, I presume, high rents.

Anya Hindmarch has been put up for sale. This is another brand I've thought to be a victim of over-pricing their goods and often wondered just how much money they bring in. Although I knew Anya Hindmarch had sold the company, I didn't realise they were now owned by Qatari firm although this explains the store on Bond Street.

Apologies, Daily Fail link.

Not surprised.

I used to buy clothes and shoes there years ago. Great quality and not too expensive. Clothes were made in France and seemed to be cut for a shorter woman.

Now - yuk - mother of the bride type clothing and shoes. Thing is, how often to their target market go to weddings....

Good quality shoes, though.

I'm a little sad about Anya Hindmarch but it's not really a surprise. Her designs have become too much about looking 'wacky' and are massively overpriced. Such a shame as she used to make such beautiful bags (and shoes). Really good quality that lasted so well. I have a reasonable collection of her bags and shoes but haven't bought anything from her for a good 4-5 years now. I'm not sure when she sold a controlling stake to the Qataris but I do remember the outlet at Bicester (that used to be a little treasure trove of bargains) moving to bigger premises there and suddenly the prices quadrupled. I stopped going there.

5 years ago I would buy things there, but now prices are too high for me.

Have a coat I bought 6 years ago I still get compliments on. Could not afford a coat there now!

I think the style is feminine and classy, not frumpy imo, but way too ££££

There are places that are holding their own at the higher end of the High St.

Toast is in the LK Bennet space but a bit cheaper and far far better quality. No MOTB there but an similar affluent customer base, albeit neatly avoiding ‘office wear’.

Office wear and Wedding Guest can just go so wrong (see Jaeger).

StellaRockafella
I found your post on Saturday at 15.19 very interesting and insightful.
Where do you shop ?
Where do you regard as having reasonable prices and good quality ?

I think it's very difficult for a clothing brand to find a niche in the market these days. I used to wear suits for work 20 years ago but now don't even own one, and it's the same for occasions - the world is a more casual place generally and people don't really dress up so much. I wouldn't want to spend hundreds of pounds on a dress that I'm not going to wear more than a couple of times unless I really loved it or if it was versatile enough to wear in different ways. I agree they should go back to the basics.

Hundred - I walk past the Anya Hindmarch store on Bond St and am aghast that someone would pay £1k for a backpack with a space invader on it! The items look like cheap novelty knockoffs. If I had that money to spend I'd get a classic Chanel, Prada or Aspinall that I could use for years.

My mum and I visited the shop on George Street in Edinburgh some years ago and the staff made it clear that we weren't welcome.

I think it is difficult to find a niche, and that it's really hard to find quality. I can afford to spend a decent amount on clothes (and do) but I'm sick of shit. Dresses that are nice on the first wear but turn to static as soon as they're washed once (french connection, looking at you), buttons that come off on the first wear (that's you Hobbs, brand new blazer en route to an interview!), hems that fall down, and just dreadful fabrics.

I make my own clothes sometimes, and even with me paying retail prices for fabric the cost is a tiny fraction. And even though I'm not an amazing seamstress they still look better than mass produced stuff due to better fabrics.

And officewear is a nightmare to find if you actually need it now; I did a work trip to Japan which is still pretty formal so really needed a suit. Couldn't get one, the only styles available were straight up and down pencil skirts or skinny trousers. Ended up with a Kate Middleton-esque coat dress!