{"id":14661,"date":"2025-01-31T02:59:54","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/inside-gordon-brothers-asset-light-strategy-to-rejuvenate-the-laura-ashley-brand\/"},"modified":"2025-01-31T02:59:54","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T02:59:54","slug":"inside-gordon-brothers-asset-light-strategy-to-rejuvenate-the-laura-ashley-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dmsretail.com\/RetailNews\/inside-gordon-brothers-asset-light-strategy-to-rejuvenate-the-laura-ashley-brand\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Gordon Brothers\u2019 \u2018Asset-Light\u2019 Strategy to Rejuvenate the Laura Ashley Brand"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Gordon Brothers<\/strong> is most commonly known for its work helping companies through bankruptcy, handling things like restructuring, financing and asset liquidation. But recently, a lesser-known division of Gordon Brothers found itself in the spotlight when the company sold the iconic British brand Laura Ashley<\/strong> to brand management firm Marquee<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The deal was managed by Gordon Brothers\u2019 Brand Division, which had spent the previous four<\/strong> years revitalizing Laura Ashley after its 2020 bankruptcy. Carolyn D\u2019Angelo, Senior Managing Director of Brand Operations at Gordon Brothers and former President of Laura Ashley, said that Gordon Brothers\u2019 brand management unit flies a bit \u201cunder the radar,\u201d and the company is okay with that.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur strategy is to buy and sell,\u201d D\u2019Angelo explained in an interview with Retail TouchPoints<\/em>. \u201cDifferent from [other brand management firms like] Iconix or Marquee or Authentic, we buy brands with the intent of selling them at some point in the future.<\/strong> We look for brands that have a heritage, maybe have lost their way, maybe need some marketing expertise, maybe need to change the model and be moved from an operating company into an asset-light model. We look for brands that we believe have growth potential, not only in their core territory, like the UK, but in other territories around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Laura
Image courtesy Laura Ashley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Laura Ashley certainly fit that bill. After nearly 70<\/strong> years in operation, the \u201cquintessentially British\u201d brand, known best for its colorful floral prints, found itself in dire straights during the pandemic and became one of the first retail casualties of COVID-19 in the UK. Gordon Brothers was working with the UK administrator to take the brand through the bankruptcy process, and when the Laura Ashley IP went up for sale the company decided to acquire it.<\/p>\n

Moving from Vertical Operations to \u2018Asset-Light\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Gordon Brothers then set to work reimagining Laura Ashley\u2019s business model, while ensuring it stayed top-of-mind with consumers through a combination of product licensing and marketing activations. The biggest shift for the brand involved moving to what D\u2019Angelo describes as an \u201casset-light\u201d model<\/strong> \u2014 meaning that the company no longer owns most of its operations but instead partners with third parties to run its stores and create its products under strict brand guidelines. The brand makes most of its money through royalties rather than direct sales, but it also relieves itself of the financial and operational burden of running stores and designing and selling products.<\/p>\n

\u201cPrior to the bankruptcy, [Laura Ashley] was a vertical operation,\u201d said D\u2019Angelo. \u201cThey had company-owned stores, and most product categories were being sourced vertically, so they owned the inventory. They did very little, if any, licensing at all. But the interesting thing about when we bought the brand is that we turned some of those vertical manufacturers into licensees, so that worked out very nicely.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a process that Gordon Brothers has gone through before. In 2017, the company completed a similar turnaround of the Polaroid<\/strong> brand, selling it to Polish investor Wiaczes\u0142aw Smo\u0142okowski after eight<\/strong> years of ownership following the brand\u2019s 2008 bankruptcy. With Laura Ashley now in the hands of Marquee, Gordon Brothers currently has two<\/strong> brands under management \u2014 fashion label Nicole Miller<\/strong> and the more recently acquired 120<\/strong>-year-old German consumer electronics and lifestyle brand Telefunken<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really fun and energizing to rejuvenate and reimagine these brands,\u201d said D\u2019Angelo. \u201cI love watching them grow and watching the success.\u201d<\/p>\n

Relaunching and Repositioning a Bankrupt Brand<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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