City Chic to relaunch UK-based Evans as pure-play brand

Dean Blake

4th Jan 2021

City Chic will relaunch UK-based Evans as a pureplay fashion house following its $41 million acquisition at the end of 2020.

Evans, which was picked up from the collapsing Arcadia Group, will also serve as a springboard to launch the wider City Chic group into the UK – the business’ third major region following Australia and the United States.

Since divesting itself from its former Specialty Fashion stablemates, City Chic has seen strong gains from its online-centric business model, with online sales representing about 65 per cent of its total sales in FY20.

“In addition to providing a launching pad into a new market, we are confident we can deploy our lean, customer-centric operating model to drive revenue growth and cost efficiencies in the existing business,” City Chic chief executive Phil Ryan said.

The Evans business generated over £60 million of annual sales last year, with almost half of its direct to consumer sales coming from its online segment. City Chic also purchased the brand’s wholesale business.

All Evans stores in the UK will be closed by Arcadia Group in due course, a continuation of the business’ shrinking store portfolio over the last few years.