The boss of Boden has promised to revamp the business after admitting to a “catalogue of mistakes” that pushed the fashion retailer to a significant loss.
Johnnie Boden told The Times he was a “complete nitwit” for making the brand too trendy and neglecting its core customer base.
The overhaul, which will coincide with its upcoming Autumn/Winter 23 collection, will see the fashion retailer revive its famous catalogue and axe its struggling menswear division.
Boden will also send apologetic emails to customers that use phrases such as: “Sorry, I’m a complete nitwit. I effed up.”
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It comes after the fashion retailer plunged to a £4.4m loss last year, compared to a profit of £22m in 2021.
Sales slipped 2% to £350m in the period, with customer numbers also down 5% to 1.8 million.
Bolden told the publication: “We forgot who we were. We changed the product too much. We went a bit too young and we upset lots of customers.
“We had less colour, we had shorter silhouettes and we had the sorts of products that were on trend, which is not very us.”
He admitted that cutting back on the retailer’s much-loved catalogue had also been a fatal error: “We knew we had to cut back distribution because digital was the future, but we cut back too much.”
Boden said he was “pretty confident” the retailer will get back on its feet: “These things happen.
“You look at Apple — that almost went bust. James Dyson and his electric car, that didn’t work . . . Gucci was once on its knees.
“I’ve made a ton of mistakes throughout my career and managed to overcome them.”
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5 Comments. Leave new
I have (in the past) loved Boden clothes, the quality & style being second to none. But of late (2023), I’ve found their fashions on the expensive & boring side, preferring instead to shop at cheaper brands like River Island or Zara.
I have been a Boden customer for years. Loved the patters, fabrics and used to have the right size, cut and lenght for me. However I was quite disappointed for the last year specially with the size. I ended up not finding anything which could fit. Far too big and long and the patterns were not fun anymore and I stopped purchasing from Boden. Looking forward to seeing the new catalogue. Let’s see if is back to what it was in the past.
Agree with previous comments and pleased to see ‘it isn’t just me. I’ve been a Boden customer for many years, I loved its quirky and unique British styling, but lately this has been completely lost and it’s like another younger person orientated brand had taken over. I always thought Boden was a clothing brand I could age gracefully with and for life, but this has not been the case for a couple of years and I’ve been shopping elsewhere. However I hold some hope after seeing this article, maybe they do care about their customers after all, including the long standing ones.
I loved boden and was buying from Boden a lot , now most of the things I am buying should return it , no shape , no quality and highly priced, looking forward to next year collection
i wondered what had happened, when Boden abandoned old favourites like Aertex shirts, and moleskin suits to concentrate on “slob-wear”; just thought I was getting too old. It seems others thought likewise,