Thomas Pink remained loss-making in 2018 before relaunch

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 15, 2019

Thomas Pink’s decision to relaunch as a more upmarket brand had a significant impact on its revenues and bottom line in the year ended 31 December 2018.

The British company rebranded to Pink Shirtmaker in November 2018 to elevate its product offering and positioning after years of falling sales.

In addition to a new identity for the business, the reboot put the focus back on men’s shirts, an item that was traditionally at the centre of the heritage company.

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But the timing of the relaunch meant that 2018 figures only benefitted from six weeks of the new strategy, failing to boost sales for the period. And last year’s turnover fell significantly, down by 42% to £15.4m, after falling 23.1% in 2017.

However, gross margin improved to 93.9% compared with the previous year of 28.5% as a result of the new product, a reduced dependency on discounts and weak 2017 comparative. 

And operating loss improved significantly from £29.5m to £23.5m, 

“The company’s performance improvements during the year are in line with the group strategy and the directors are confident that the right brand foundations are now in place to deliver long-term profitable growth in the years ahead,” management said in the firm’s financial report.

Tracing its roots back to 1984, the business has flagship stores in London, New York and Paris, plus further locations in Australia, Mexico, India, Ireland and South Africa.

The strategy reset has seen it target younger men with a selection of more wereable shirts, formal shirts with a vintage flair and wider ready to wear collection.