M&S to add Joules and Hobbs to its fashion stable

The retailer is set to sell clothes from Phase Eight, Joules, Hobbs and Seasalt online and in its stores when they emerge from lockdown, as first reported by The Times.

It is understood that the brands have been selected because their respective customers overlap with M&S’s and will help drive shoppers to the retailer’s website.

These partnerships follow on from Marks & Spencer’s recent acquisition of the Jaeger brand, which fell into administration as part of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill retail group in November.

Marks & Spencer has also formed partnerships with Nobody’s Child and Early Learning Centre in recent months, both of which have proved successful, as part of its Never the Same Again transformation programme.

Earlier this month Marks & Spencer chief executive Steve Rowe said although the retailer had “no intention” of becoming a department store model, it was interested in “finding and partnering with adjacent brands.”