Stylo sells Shellys
SHOE group Stylo has concluded a deal to sell its Shellys brand.
The Bradford-based group, which owns the Barratts and PriceLess brands and which stepped in to buy part of collapsed Dolcis from administrators last month, has sold the fashion brand Shellys to Hong Kong business Eternal Best Industries.
The deal is for the assets of Shellys including the intellectual property associated with the brand name.
Stylo chairman and chief executive Michael Ziff said: “The sale of the Shellys brand is a further move by Stylo to concentrate on its core retail business of Barratts, PriceLess and concessions in other retail clothing stores.”
Stylo bought Shellys, which has seven stores, in 2003 for £1.5m to add a cutting edge fashion brand to a portfolio containing the more basic Barratts and PriceLess chains.
Shellys was made famous by its Carnaby Street store in London which was the first to stock winkle pickers, platforms and Chelsea boots during the 1960s and 1970s and the company collaborated with designers including Vivienne Westwood, Katherine Hamnet and John Paul Gaultier.
However the business ran up losses of £2.5m in its first year as Stylo was forced to clear poor stock.
Mr Ziff has described the purchase of Shellys as “a disaster” as it faced tough competition from other shoe fashion chains on the high street.
He has now concluded its disposal as Stylo's new management team focus on its core brands.
Despite tough times for Britain's shoe retailers, Mr Ziff believes the Dolcis deal will strengthen Barratts' position as the UK's fourth largest shoe retailer behind leader Clarks, number two player Marks & Spencer and third placed Shoe Zone which owns Stead & Simpson.
Stylo has jettisoned the Dolcis name and acquired 23 key stores as well as several million pounds worth of stock.
Where the Dolcis stores are in better sites than Barratts shops, it is moving them into the newly acquired stores. Barratts has 180 stores while there are 200 PriceLess shops and another 200 concessions in Dorothy Perkins stores.
Mr Ziff is confident that Stylo can succeed in the current retail climate because of the strong team it now boasts.
Since January it has recruited Roger Parr, the former Stead & Simpson buying director, as women's buying director for Barratts while Dolcis buying director Richard Bower has taken the position of merchandise director at the chain.
In the last few months Mr Ziff has also brought in Richard Wharton the co-founder of Office to radically overhaul the Barratts business as well as former Stead & Simpson chief executive David Lockyer as non-executive director and former Office buying director Lynsey Hand to consult on women's products.
