Dorothy Perkins is a British online women's fashion retailer operated by Debenhams Group in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. Formerly a store chain, it sold both its own range of clothes and branded fashion goods until February 2021, when it became part of Boohoo Group (now known as Debenhams Group), having been acquired after the collapse of Philip Green's fashion empire

Arcadia Group Arcadia Group Ltd (formerly Arcadia Group plc and, until 1998, Burton Group plc) was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (B ...

History

Founded in 1909 under the name H. P. Newman, the company changed its trading name to Dorothy Perkins in 1919. In the 1960s, Dorothy Perkins was controlled by the Farmer family, who used to own Winster Hosiery. Staff in the branches could expect regular visits from Alan Farmer, whose picture was printed in a booklet handed to new employees. He established Dorothy Perkins by offering low prices for women's clothing. Best known for its lingerie, tights, and sleepwear collections, its other clothes had difficulty competing with the more trendy Lewis Separates, now owned by River Island Clothing Company Ltd, and Peter Robinson. In the late 1960s, Dorothy Perkins co-funded

Biba Biba was a London fashion store of the 1960s and 1970s. Biba was started and run by the Polish-born Barbara Hulanicki and her husband Stephen Fitz-Simon. After the original company closed in 1975, Biba was relaunched several times, independentl ...

's expansion into a large boutique on Kensington High Street. From 1970 to 1973 it owned a 70% stake in the business allowing Biba to extend from womenswear into accessories, beauty products, menswear, children's clothing and home goods. The Burton Group, later known as Arcadia, purchased Dorothy Perkins in 1979. The Arcadia Group had a training programme, which offered financial incentives to employees to expand their responsibilities and knowledge of company and business affairs. In 1994, Dorothy Perkins recruited celebrity

Helena Christensen Helena Christensen (born 25 December 1968) is a Danish fashion model. She is a former Victoria's Secret Angel, co-founder and original creative director for ''Nylon'' magazine, and she is a supporter of funding for breast cancer organizations an ...

as the face of the brand.

Yasmin Le Bon Yasmin Le Bon (née Parvaneh) is an English model. She was one of the highest-earning models during the 1980s and is married to Duran Duran's lead singer Simon Le Bon. Early life Yasmin Parvaneh was born in Oxford, England, the younger child ...

later joined Christensen as a face of Dorothy Perkins. In 2012, Khloe, Kourteney and

Kim Kardashian Kimberly Noel Kardashian (born October 21, 1980) is an American media personality, socialite, and businesswoman. She first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after the celebrity sex tape ...

launched the Kardashian Kollection with the fashion chain. In July 2020, Arcadia Group, which comprised several brands including the Topshop and Dorothy Perkins fashion chains, had been hit hard by the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

and planned 100s of job cuts to minimise costs. As financial difficulties worsened, Arcadia entered

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

on 30 November 2020. In February 2021, Boohoo.com announced it was buying the Dorothy Perkins brand from Arcadia (along with the Wallis and Burton brands) for £25.2 million, with the loss of around 2,450 jobs. The website is still trading, managed by Boohoo.

References

External links

Dorothy Perkins website

Dorothy Perkins - Fashion Fast Forward Singapore

Dorothy Perkins - fashion fast forward Malaysia
{{Arcadia Group 1909 establishments in England 1909 establishments in the United Kingdom 1979 mergers and acquisitions 2021 disestablishments in England 2021 disestablishments in the United Kingdom 2021 mergers and acquisitions Clothing brands of the United Kingdom Clothing retailers of England Clothing companies of England Clothing companies based in London Clothing companies established in 1909 Companies established in 1909 Retail companies disestablished in 2021 Retail companies established in 1909 Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Companies that have filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy