- By Tom Espiner
- Business reporter, BBC News
Image source, Getty Images
High Street fashion chain Ted Baker is set to be put into administration, putting hundreds of jobs at risk.
Authentic Brands Group, the Ted Baker brand owner since 2022, said “damage done” during a tie-up with another firm was “too much to overcome”.
Ted Baker will continue to trade and customer orders will be fulfilled, the US group said.
Authentic is in “advanced discussions” with several potential buyers for the Ted Baker brand, it added.
Ted Baker has about 975 employees and runs 46 stores, plus an e-commerce platform and department store concessions.
Authentic did not give any indication of job loss numbers in a statement.
Authentic Brands Group chief strategy and transition officer John McNamara said: “We wish that there could have been a better outcome for the Ted Baker employees and stakeholders.”
He added that it is “hopefully some consolation for customers” that Ted Baker “will continue to trade online and in stores.”
He said Ted Baker’s holding company in the UK and Europe – No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL) – had “built up a significant level of arrears” during a tie-up with Dutch firm AARC and the damage done “was too much to overcome”.
The partnership with AARC, which ran Ted Baker’s shops and online business in Europe, ended in January.
Ted Baker began as a menswear brand in Glasgow in 1988, and grew to have shops in the UK and US, as well as concessions in department stores.
It also has licensing agreements in place for stores in cities in Asia and the Middle East.
Authentic owns brands including Reebok, Hunter and Juicy Couture, and bought Ted Baker two years ago in a £211m deal.
The plan to appoint administrators, which the BBC understands will be restructuring firm Teneo, comes after long-running instability at the firm.
In 2019, Ted Baker founder Ray Kelvin resigned after allegations of misconduct, including “forced hugging”.
Mr Kelvin, who denied the allegations, was at the time accused by staff of engaging them in unwelcome embraces, and having asked young female members of staff to sit on his knee, cuddle him or let him massage their ears.
His successor Lindsay Page and chairman David Bernstein resigned the following year amid a profit warning. Shares also plunged after an accounting error.
Mr Kelvin came back to the firm on an advisory basis about a year after the “forced hugging” scandal.
Robert Johnson is a UK-based business writer specializing in finance and entrepreneurship. With an eye for market trends and a keen interest in the corporate world, he offers readers valuable insights into business developments.
