Praise for staff at Peterborough’s Yours Clothing as trading picks up after £22 million hit

Talented staff at a Peterborough clothing company have been praised for powering the business through the coronavirus pandemic.
Andrew Killingsworth, founder and chief executive of Yours Clothing.Andrew Killingsworth, founder and chief executive of Yours Clothing.
Andrew Killingsworth, founder and chief executive of Yours Clothing.

Founder and chief executive of Yours Clothing, Andrew Killingsworth, says the actions and attitude of its 1,200 workforce had been vital in helping the company begin to bounce back after the lockdown closure, which cost the business £22 million in sales.

He said that despite the ‘colossal’ impact of the enforced closure of its high street shops, trading was now exceeding expectations.

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Along with other so-called non-essential retailers, Yours Clothing was forced to shut its stores and those of its menswear brand, BadRhino, from March 24 for 12 weeks.

It prompted an angry letter from Mr Killingsworth to national and local politicians condemning the ‘unfairness’ of the lockdown rules that closed fashion retailers but allowed supermarkets and other ‘essential retailers’ to sell clothing.

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Mr Killingsworth said: “The future success of any business is determined by the quality of their people and must include those with the right skills, behaviours and attitudes.

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“The way we have coped so far is a testimony to everyone within the business.

“Our current trading is exceeding our expectations.”

And Mr Killingsworth said there appeared to be new openings that would allow the business, which has its head office in Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, to expand and thrive.

He said: “We continue to look at ways in which the business can expand and thrive and we believe that there are many opportunities in the near future for us to do just that.”

But he warned that conditions on the high street were still extremely challenging.

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He said: “We are still very heavily impacted by the effects of the virus as a business.

“Our 165 store estate in the UK and Europe continues to be difficult for us as the consumer confidence in shopping on the high street and shopping centres slowly returns to whatever the new normal is.

He said: “As a company we pride ourselves on being very agile, reactive and entrepreneurial in whatever is presented to us.

“The last few months have been the most challenging trading environment the business has ever faced, which I’m sure is the case for many other retailers and humanity in general during these unprecedented times.

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“As a business we have had to make some very difficult decisions and had to look at our entire business model again with eyes looking forward not back.

“Like everyone else I hope the virus disappears soon and as always I would like to thank our customers, staff and suppliers for supporting us and understanding the difficult environment we are working and trading in.”

The plus-size retailer is facing a tough battle to restore its fortunes.

In the financial year 2018/19 it reported record figures with profits rising to £13.6 million and sales reaching £105.9 million.

The success helped propel Mr Killingsworth into this year’s Sunday Times Rich List for the first time in 976th position.

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