River Island

This article is about fashion brand. For the location in the Falkland Islands, see River Island, Falkland Islands. For the topographical formation within a river, see river island and ait.
River Island
Private company
Industry Fashion, Clothing, Textiles, Retail
Founded 1948: Lewis Separates
Founder Bernard Lewis and brothers
Headquarters London, England, United Kingdom
Number of locations
 Head Office: West London
Area served
 United Kingdom, Ireland, Netherlands, Belgium, South Africa, Namibia, Estonia, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Georgia, Qatar, Ukraine, Sweden, Germany, Philippines, Bahrain, Kuwait, Malta, Chile, Peru
Key people
 Bernard Lewis (Founder, Chairman)
Clive Lewis (Deputy Chairman, son of Bernard Lewis)
Ben Lewis (CEO, nephew of Bernard Lewis)
Vanessa Lewis(Creative Director, Bernard's wife)
Leonard Lewis (Non-Executive, son of Bernard Lewis)
Products Women's, Men's and Children's Clothing, Footwear, and Accessories
Revenue £826m (December 2009)
£160.5m (December 2009)
Owner Families of Bernard and David Lewis
Parent Lewis Trust Group
Divisions Chelsea Girl
Website RiverIsland.com

River Island is a London-headquartered high street fashion brand, which operates in a number of worldwide markets. Set up in 1948 by Bernard Lewis and his brothers in London, it is to this day still a private company owned by the Lewis family.

History

Store front at Castlepoint Shopping Centre.

In 1948, Bernard Lewis started selling fruit and vegetables, and then knitting wool from a Nazi-Luftwaffe bombed-out site in the East End of London.[1] Joined by his three brothers,[1] the chain expands to nine stores under the title Lewis Separates.[2]

By 1965 Lewis Separates had an impressive 70 store empire in the UK and it was decided that the brand needed a new identity. Lewis Separates was re-branded to Chelsea Girl,[2] the name chosen because at the time the King's Road in Chelsea was the hub of fashion, music and popular culture. Chelsea Girl became the first UK fashion boutique chain.

In the late 1970s, two of the brothers left the business,[2] leaving Bernard, David and their families in charge. They formed the Lewis Trust Group, for which David ran the other businesses covering hotels, property and investments, leaving Bernard to run the retail operation. This allowed the company to expand into menswear in 1982 with the launch of Concept Man stores,[2] before they were merged with Chelsea Girl to become one retail brand under the name of River Island in 1988.[2]

In 1993 the brand opened its first shop in Republic of Ireland. Since then it has expanded into a dozen markets including Russia, Poland, and various countries in the Middle East.

In 2010 River Island launched Kidswear. In 2011, Chelsea Girl was re-introduced as a capsule collection within River Island stores.[1]

Stores

River Island in July 2015 had 317 stores in the UK, Republic of Ireland, South Africa, the Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden, Belgium, Poland, the Middle East, Ukraine, Georgia, Malta and Philippines alongside a website, riverisland.com which ships to over 100 countries worldwide.[3]

As of 2012, River Island no longer has physical shops in Singapore. In 2013, online fashion retailer Zalora began acting as a bridge between River Island and most of South-East Asia.[4]

In spring / autumn 2015 River Island will open stores in Peru and Chile.

In this season River Island will open three stores in Chile:

River Island in Peru is planning to open two stores in

The number of River Island stores on 02 April 2016:

Africa

Americas

Asia

Europe

Design

A branch in Leeds, West Yorkshire.

River Island has an in-house design team at its West London Headquarters.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 James Hall (20 March 2011). "Ben Lewis interview: River Island chief on reviving 80s-style Chelsea Girl". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 James Hall (20 March 2011). "From Chelsea Girl to Concept Man: history of River Island". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. ↑ "International Shipping". River Island. River Island. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Zalora and River Island". River Island. River Island. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  5. ↑ "About Us". River Island. River Island. Retrieved 26 March 2014.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, April 02, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.