Dorothy Perkins
TypePrivate
IndustryFashion
Clothing
Textiles
Founded1909 (1909)
Defunct2021 (Stores)
FateConverted into an online store
HeadquartersLondon, United Kingdom
Area served
United Kingdom
ProductsWomen's retail fashion
ParentBoohoo
Websitewww.dorothyperkins.com

Dorothy Perkins is an online British women's fashion brand based in the United Kingdom. Formerly a store chain, it sold both its own range of clothes and branded fashion goods until February 2021, when it became part of Boohoo.com, having been acquired after the collapse of Philip Green's fashion empire Arcadia Group.

History

Founded in 1909 under the name H. P. Newman, the company changed its trading name to Dorothy Perkins in 1919.[1] In the 1960s, Dorothy Perkins was controlled by the Farmer family, who used to own Winster Hosiery. Staff in the branches could expect regular visits from Alan Farmer, whose picture was printed in a booklet handed to new employees. He established Dorothy Perkins by offering low prices for women's clothing.[2] Best known for its lingerie, tights, and sleepwear collections, its other clothes had difficulty competing with the more trendy Lewis Separates, now owned by River Island Clothing Company Ltd, and Peter Robinson.

In the late 1960s, Dorothy Perkins co-funded Biba's expansion into a large boutique on Kensington High Street.[3] From 1970 to 1973 it owned a 70% stake in the business allowing Biba to extend from womenswear into accessories, beauty products, menswear, children's clothing and home goods.[4]

The Burton Group, later known as Arcadia, purchased Dorothy Perkins in 1979.[5][6]

The Arcadia Group had a training programme, which offered financial incentives to employees to expand their responsibilities and knowledge of company and business affairs.[7]

In 1994, Dorothy Perkins recruited celebrity Helena Christensen as the face of the brand.[8] Yasmin Le Bon later joined Christensen as a face of Dorothy Perkins.[9] In 2012, Khloe, Kourteney and Kim Kardashian launched the Kardashian Kollection with the fashion chain.[10] Number of employees in Dorothy Perkins is 673 In July 2020, Arcadia Group, which comprised several brands including the Topshop and Dorothy Perkins fashion chains, had been hit hard by the COVID-19 lockdown and planned 100s of job cuts to minimise costs.[11] As financial difficulties worsened, Arcadia entered administration on 30 November 2020.[12] In February 2021, Boohoo.com announced it was buying the Dorothy Perkins brand from Arcadia (along with the Wallis and Burton brands) for £25.2 million, with the loss of around 2,450 jobs.[13] The website is still trading, managed by Boohoo

References

  1. ↑ "Dorothy Perkins Timeline". www.fashionstyleyou.com. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  2. ↑ Pagnamenta, Peter; Overy, R. J. (1984). All Our Working Lives. London: British Broadcasting Corporation. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-563-20117-5.
  3. ↑ Davis, John (2022). Waterloo Sunrise: London from the Sixties to Thatcher. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-691-22052-9.
  4. ↑ Robert, Yasmin (1 December 2014). "Timeline: Biba's sensational 50 years". Drapers. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  5. ↑ Cohan, William D. (9 September 2016). "How Sir Philip Green Made an Outrageous Fortune and Outraged an Entire Nation". Vanity Fair. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  6. ↑ "Arcadia's famous brands: How they grew to dominate the high street". AOL. 30 November 2020. Archived from the original on 20 January 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  7. ↑ "Employee Engagement". Arcadiagroup.co.uk. Archived from the original on 7 November 2016. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  8. ↑ "Shop! This week: Dorothy Perkins - Telegraph". fashion.telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  9. ↑ Smith, Sophie (12 June 2019). "The history of Arcadia: the high street brands at risk if Philip's group collapses". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  10. ↑ "Kardashian Kollection". British Vogue. 14 August 2012. Retrieved 9 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "jobs as latest Covid-19 victim". Mirror. 1 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
  12. ↑ "Topshop owner Arcadia goes into administration". BBC News. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2020.
  13. ↑ "Boohoo buys Dorothy Perkins, Wallis and Burton but 2,450 jobs lost". BBC News. 8 February 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
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