Innovative Peterborough employer lauded as among top companies to spearhead Covid recovery

The praise comes after fashion retailer Yours Clothing, which employs 1,391 staff, was named among the top 200 companies with the fastest growing international sales.

The company, which has its head office in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, has been ranked in 111th place - a dip from last year’s 81st position after its overseas sales rose by 35 per cent over two years to the end of last February.

According to the Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 league table, the firm’s international sales reached £11. 4 million on total sales of £107.5 million.

It sells its plus-sized clothing direct to consumers in more than 100 countries and last August acquired womenswear firm Long Tall Sally for an undisclosed sum.

Amanda Murphy, Head of Commercial Banking, HSBC UK, said: “After a challenging start to 2021, all eyes are on the companies that will drive a return to growth in 2021.

“We are confident that the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of businesses such as those in the East of England listed on International Track 200 will carry them forward.

“These companies show the strength, ambition and resilience of businesses across the UK and are the sort of businesses we are proud to support every day.”

Yours Clothing sits alongside high profile British brands based across the UK including Sweaty Betty, the women’s activewear brand that sells to 195 countries, BrewDog, which was valued at £1 billion in 2017 and now has 100 bars worldwide, and Brompton, the bicycle manufacturer, which ships to 47 markets.

John Bridge, chief executive of Cambridgeshire Chamber of Commerce, said: “It is definitely the innovation shown by companies like Yours Clothing that will lead the country’s recovery from Covid.

”Anyone who thinks there will be a return to the ‘normal of March 2020 will be caught in a chill wind.

”Companies must rethink  the way they do things.

“It’s no good hankering after the past.

“Customers requirements have changed and digital and artificial intelligence will be key as we go forward.”

At the start of the year, Andrew Killingsworth, founder of Yours Clothing, told how investment in new technology had given the company a robust ecommerce platform and had enabled it to cope with the challenging trading environment.

He also called on Peterborough people to do all they could to support struggling independent stores, who were facing ‘heart-breaking’ enforced closures during lockdown.

A few weeks ago, the company donated £100,000 towards Peterborough City Council’s £600,000 Digital Drive campaign to buy the tech needed for many disadvantaged pupils struggling to access lessons at home.

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