Administrators to close 15 Ted Baker stores across the UK resulting in 245 job losses

Ted Baker is to shut 15 stores across the UK and cut around 245 jobs, administrators have announced.

The company behind the fashion brand's UK shops, No Ordinary Designer Label Limited (NODL), hired administrators from Teneo last month. 

The retail giant currently has 86 locations in the UK, which include 29 standalone branches and 35 concessions, including 25 located in John Lewis department stores, as well as seven airport stores and eight Ted Baker outlet stores.

Ted Baker - which first opened in Glasgow in 1988 - has picked up impressive celebrity endorsements including Holly Willoughby, Amal Clooney, Amanda Holden, Emma Stone and Myleene Klass.

But administrators have confirmed some sites across England will pull down their shutters within days.

Eleven shops will be closed by April 19 across Birmingham, London, Cambridge and Liverpool - resulting in 120 staff losing their jobs.

About 25 head office roles will be made redundant as a result of plans to reduce central costs at the fashion chain.

A further four stores were earmarked for closure prior to the firm entering administration, it has been revealed, which will result in about 100 additional redundancies.

These four stores will be closed in the coming weeks, according to the administration team at Teneo Financial Advisory.

The following branches are set to close within days: Birmingham Bullring, Bristol, Bromley, Cambridge, Exeter, Leeds, Liverpool One, London Bridge, Milton Keynes, Nottingham, Oxford, Bicester, Brompton Road, London, Floral Street, London and Manchester Trafford.

Benji Dymant, joint administrator said: 'Ted Baker is an iconic British brand with strong partners around the world.

'These store closures, whilst with a regrettable impact on valued team members, will improve the performance of the business, as Authentic continues to progress discussions with potential UK and European operating partners for the Ted Baker brand to bring the business back to health.

'We would like to thank Ted Baker team members and partners for their ongoing efforts and support at this difficult time.'

This news comes after Ted Baker was delisted from the London stock market after it was bought by ABG for around £210million about a year and a half ago.

ABG said that No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL) had built up a significant level of arrears'.

It also comes weeks after the end of its partnership with Dutch firm AARC, which ran Ted Baker's shops and online business in Europe.

The arrears were built up as the business faced tough trading last year, and during the partnership with AARC.

Ted Baker walked away from the AARC deal in January after it claimed its partner had failed to meet its promise to inject cash into the business. Authentic Brands said Ted Baker stores and the retailer's website would continue to trade.

Authentic, which also owns Reebok and Juicy Couture, agreed a £211 million deal to buy Ted Baker off the stock exchange in August 2022. 

The deal was less than had been considered by Authentic earlier in the year when other potential suitors were circling the fashion brand.

It came after years of turmoil at the group. In March 2019, Ted Baker business parted ways with its founder Ray Kelvin after allegations of harassment made by young female colleagues.

Mr Kelvin, who denied allegations of misconduct, was at the time accused of enforcing a 'hugging' culture at the company, massaging employees, kissing their ears and asking someone to sit on his lap.

At that point, he had been with the company since founding it 32 years earlier.

Mr Kelvin, started working in his uncle's Enfield menswear shop aged 11 and founded the Ted Baker brand in 1988, when he opened a shop specialising in men's shirts in Glasgow turning it into one of Britain's top brands.

But in 2018 he took a leave of absence when the company was forced to launch an independent investigation into his alleged behaviour following a petition from staff.

In the document Mr Kelvin was also accused stroking people's necks and making sexual innuendos and today he quit saying: 'It is the right thing to step away'.

At the time, Mr Kelvin said: 'Difficult though this decision is given that Ted Baker has been my life and soul for over 30 years, I've decided that the right thing to do is to step away from Ted and allow the business to focus on being the outstanding brand it is so it can face 2019 with fresh energy and renewed spirit.  

'As a shareholder in the business I'll support Lindsay in his leadership and be available to him and the team wherever I can offer helpful advice.

'I'm extremely proud of what we've achieved in building Ted Baker to the global brand it is today. Thank you to every single colleague, customer, supplier, and investor for your commitment to the business. We couldn't have done it without you and I'm so grateful.

'The past few months have been deeply distressing and I'll now be taking time privately with my family to consider what my next adventure will be. Bye for now, Ray.'

The firm then issued several profit warnings and accounting blunders and faced the Covid pandemic while suffering financially.

Hundreds of jobs were canned in 2020 as Ted Baker raised £100million to stabilise its books.

But the valuation of ABG has skyrocketed over the last few years after it was reported it sold a controlling stake the the world's largest asset manager BlackRock in August 2019 for $870million.