Tom Wolfe, which last year recorded sales of more than£25 million, wants 12 eponymous stores within the next three years. The brand, which is aimed at 18- to 24-year-olds, will also launch a transactional web site next week.
Tom Wolfe was sold to retail entrepreneur John Kinnaird in February for£1 as part of the Envy portfolio from Alexon. The brand, which is also wholesaled internationally, will roll out two other licensing deals for luggage and cosmetics later this year.
In addition, Kinnaird will open three new-format stores for Envy in Southampton, Plymouth and Livingston before Christmas. He said margins at Envy rose 10 basis points over the past two months despite slower sales.
“Like-for-like sales are down in low single digits. Overall, we are happy with how the first six months have gone,” he added.
Kinnaird has closed 11 loss-making Envy stores. If Christmas goes well, he expects that the business will reach profit.
He said: “Hopefully in the second half of next year we will roll out our new store design to the rest of the Envy chain, about five stores a year.”
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