Monsoon Accessorize

Monsoon Accessorize Ltd.
High Street retailer
Founded 1973
Founder Peter Simon
Headquarters London, United Kingdom
Products clothing, accessories
Owner Peter Simon
Divisions Monsoon
Accessorize
Website monsoon.co.uk
accessorize.com

Monsoon Accessorize is a British private limited company. It has a London registered address, and operates two international retail clothing chains - Monsoon and Accessorize.[1]

History

Monsoon was started in London in 1973 by Peter Simon, a market-stall trader, and opened its first shop in Beauchamp Place in May of that year.[2][3][4] The first Accessorize shop opened in 1984, next door to Monsoon in Covent Garden.[4] In 2014 the company had about 1400 stores in 74 different countries.[2]

In the financial year to 25 August 2012 the company made an operating loss of £4m, compared to an operating profit of £60.1m in the previous year; group sales fell to £529 million.[5]

John Browett, former head of retail at Apple, became chief executive in early 2013.[2]

The company returned to profitability in the following year: in the fifty-three weeks to 31 August 2013 sales rose 4.3% to £552m and the company reported pre-tax profits of £18.1m.[6][7][2]

In 2013 the Forum of Private Business criticised Monsoon for requiring all new suppliers to give a blanket rebate of up to 4% on all invoices as well as a further charge of up to 10% for early payment.[8][9]

Monsoon was an early corporate member of the Ethical Trading Initiative.[10][11]

In 2015 Monsoon was at the head of a list published by HM Revenue and Customs of companies that had failed to pay the national minimum wage. Because of a policy requiring employees to wear Monsoon clothes at work, the cost of which was deducted from wages, the company underpaid 1438 of its workers in the United Kingdom by over £104,000. The company was fined more than £28,000.[12][13]

References

  1. ↑ Company Details: 01098034, Monsoon Accessorize Limited. Companies House. Accessed January 2015. NB: either the company name or the company number must be manually inserted in the relevant search field.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Graham Ruddick (7 February 2014). Monsoon back in the black as former Apple boss boosts sales. The Telegraph. Accessed January 2015.
  3. ↑ Laura Heywood (21 August 2013). "MONSOON: Latest news, analysis and comment on Monsoon". Retail Week. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  4. 1 2 "Monsoon - company history". Monsoon Accessorize. Archived 23 April 2006.
  5. ↑ "Monsoon Accessorize reports "most difficult year"". Retail Gazette. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  6. ↑ "Monsoon Accessorize turnover soars 4.3 percent in FY'13 - Fashion - Fashion-news". Fashionunited.co.uk. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  7. ↑ "Monsoon and Accessorize founder invests in furniture retailer Loaf". Growthbusiness.co.uk. 15 January 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Monsoon Accessorize criticised for mandatory supplier rebate". PrintWeek. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Monsoon faces criticism over supplier terms". Just-style.com. 25 February 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  10. ↑ Susanne Schaller (2007). The Democratic Legitimacy of Private Governance. An Analysis of the Ethical Trading Initiative. Duisburg: Institute for Development and Peace, University of Duisburg‐Essen. INEF Report 91. ISSN 0941‐4967. p. 18.
  11. ↑ Corporate Members. Ethical Trading Initiative. Accessed October 2015.
  12. ↑ Monsoon Accessorize tops minimum wage list of shame. BBC. Accessed October 2015.
  13. ↑ Sarah Butler (23 October 2015). Monsoon named and shamed for not paying staff minimum wage. The Guardian. Accessed October 2015.

Media related to Accessorize at Wikimedia Commons

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, January 22, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.