Marks & Spencer snaps up Jaeger fashion brand

Marks & Spencer has announced that it has bought the Jaeger fashion brand, which fell into administration last November.

M&S is taking on the brand, but not Jaeger's scores of shops and concessions.

It is now in the process of finalising a deal to buy its products and "supporting marketing assets".

M&S announced in May 2020 that it planned to stock other complementary brands to boost sales.

Since then, it has started to sell products online from the Early Learning Centre, as well as from two designers, Nobody's Child and Ghost London.

Richard Price, managing director of M&S Clothing & Home, said: "We have set out our plans to sell complementary third party brands as part of our Never the Same Again programme to accelerate our transformation and turbocharge online growth.

"In line with this, we have bought the Jaeger brand and are in the final stages of agreeing the purchase of product and supporting marketing assets from the administrators of Jaeger Retail Limited. We expect to fully complete later this month."

In a call with journalists last week, chief executive Steve Rowe said M&S wanted to partner with other brands, largely for its online business, but stressed: "We have no intention of turning into a department store."

Sales slide

Jaeger had 244 staff and some 63 stores and concessions. In addition, 13 stores closed after administrators were appointed, with the loss of more than 120 posts across stores, head office and distribution.

It is unclear if any jobs will be saved. There has been no update from the administrators, FRP.

Jaeger was founded in 1884, the same year as Marks & Spencer, which started out as a stall in an open market in Leeds known as Marks' Penny Bazaar.

Last week, M&S unveiled quarterly figures showing that its clothing division had seen sales fall nearly a quarter, although sales of sales of sleepwear had soared.

The retailer sold 20% more women's pyjamas during the 13 weeks to 26 December. However, UK revenues for the quarter were £2.52bn, 8.2% lower than last year.

M&S blamed "on-off restrictions and distortions in demand patterns" due to the coronavirus crisis.