The retailer, which was established in 1913 and counted King George VI and Lord Mountbatten among its customers, will open concessions in eight House of Fraser stores this year.
It will open 500 sq ft spaces in department stores in the City of London, Reading, Cheltenham and Nottingham by the end of April. Three more will follow by the end of the year, in Belfast, White City and Meadowhall. At present, it only has one concession, in Allders in Croydon, and 22 stores in the UK.
Hawes & Curtis is also poised to sign for a flagship store in New York, which it plans to open next year. The US store will be its first outside Europe. It opened a flagship store in Cologne, Germany, 18 months ago.
Franchise agreements are also in the pipeline for markets including Russia, the Far East, Dubai and central Europe.
Hawes & Curtis chairman Touker Suleyman, who bought the business in 2004 with his brother Mustafa, said: “We plan to have the largest shirt offer in England.” Following the acquisition, Suleyman embarked on expanding the chain from its single store at London’s Burlington Arcade to 22 shops. He has repositioned the brand to pitch to different levels of the market by introducing new ranges and larger sizes and made-to-measure options.
Suleyman said he decided to partner with House of Fraser because it complemented Hawes & Curtis’ upmarket positioning.
He added that the retailer would introduce a high-end Heritage by Hawes & Curtis range to leverage concession opportunities in luxury department stores, such as Harrods and Harvey Nichols.
Hawes & Curtis will also close its historic Burlington Arcade store this year to open an 8,000 sq ft flagship nearby to showcase its repositioning.
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