Figleaves.com is a UK-based online lingerie retailer established by Daniel Nabarro and former McKinsey & Co manager Michael Ross in 1998 and purchased by N Brown Group in 2010.

Company history

Figleaves was founded in 1998 by entrepreneur Daniel Nabarro and former

McKinsey & Co McKinsey & Company (informally McKinsey or McK) is an American multinational strategy and management consulting firm that offers professional services to corporations, governments, and other organizations. Founded in 1926 by James O. McKinsey ...

manager Michael Ross. At launch, it was the first internet retailer to specialise in lingerie, and one of the first to target a female-only market. In 2002 the company started selling in the US. In 2005 the

private equity Private equity (PE) is stock in a private company that does not offer stock to the general public; instead it is offered to specialized investment funds and limited partnerships that take an active role in the management and structuring of the co ...

group Balderton Capital bought an almost 40% stake, and in 2010 the company was purchased by N Brown Group in 2010 for £11.5 million.Mills, Lauren (24 February 2008)
How to pull a company up by its bra straps

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

.McGregor, Kirsty (16 February 2018)
How digital pioneer Figleaves is reconnecting with customers
Drapers. The company did not turn a profit in the UK until 2012, 14 years after it launched and two years after it was acquired by N Brown Group. In Feb 2021 Figleaves.com announced the website would close and be absorbed into SimplyBe.co.uk.

Management

Julia Reynolds, a former Tesco executive who had previously started Tesco's clothing brand F&F, was the chief executive from 2008 until 2011 when she left to join Blacks. Initially, she was not replaced, but her responsibilities were divided between the commercial director, operations director, and product and brand director. Since 2016 the company CEO has been Miriam Lahage, who had previously built and led a number of multi-channel businesses in the US and

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

Operations

Lingerie makes up 50% of sales, swimwear 40% and nightwear 10%. Figleaves also sells its own-brand clothing through JD Williams, part of the N Brown Group, as well as on Amazon and eBay. Figleaves' head office is in

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevenage w ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

. They also have a warehouse and customer service centre in

Haverhill, Suffolk Haverhill ( , ) is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England, next to the borders of Essex and Cambridgeshire. It lies about southeast of Cambridge and northeast of central London. In 202 ...

.Case Studies: Figleaves
Focus on Haverhill.

References

External links

FigLeaves.com
Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom Online retailers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Welwyn Hatfield British companies established in 1998 Clothing companies established in 1998 Retail companies established in 1998 Internet properties established in 1998 1998 establishments in the United Kingdom Lingerie retailers {{UK-retail-company-stub