Yahoo Finance Kurt Geiger breaks records as celebrities flock to its London range of handbags
London fashion house Kurt Geiger broke records over the peak sales season, helped by a stellar range of celebrities seen wearing the brand.
Jennifer Lopez, Julia Roberts, Kylie Jenner and Paris Hilton were among the fashionistas who helped power sales 15% higher to £45 million. It made for the most profitable month in the Clerkenwell-based designer’s history, with handbags and accessories leading the trend.
Store sales in the UK, including at its 2,900-square-foot Oxford Street flagship, rose 12%, with online sales up 45%. But the growth was powered by the US, where sales were up 60% overall.
Geiger counts part of its success as coming from its relatively keen pricing. The average price of its signature leather handbags is £250, compared with the several thousand pounds some of its main competitors charge.
Its collections also reflect its identity as a brand rooted in the capital, with ranges named “Kensington”, “Shoreditch” and “South Bank”.
The company said today that “the Kurt Geiger brand is fast becoming a British accessory icon in the US” as part of a “global move towards affordable luxury”.
Neil Clifford, its chief executive, added: “These results underline Kurt Geiger’s transformation over the last decade from a predominantly UK shoe brand to what it is today; a global accessories brand with a cult following in both the US and UK.”
Kurt Geiger, named after its Austrian founder, and has been owned by the London private equity firm Cinven since 2015. It now has 74 stand-alone stores in the UK, with handbags now making up half of the sales in its home market. For the financial year to January 28, sales rose by almost a third to £330 million and earnings were up 30% to £30 million. Handbag sales also hit a record at £91.6 million.
