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Ted Baker's remaining 31 UK stores are scheduled to close by the end of Tuesday, leading to the loss of more than 500 jobs. The closures mark the end of an era for the British fashion brand, which has faced a series of challenges in recent years.
The company behind Ted Baker's UK operations, No Ordinary Designer Label (NODL), entered administration in March 2024. This led to the immediate closure of 15 stores and the loss of 245 jobs. Prior to the administration, Ted Baker operated 46 stores in the UK and employed around 975 people.
Currently, 513 employees are still working across Ted Baker's remaining stores and its head office. These jobs are now at risk as the stores prepare to shut down.
Ted Baker's intellectual property is owned by the US firm Authentic Brands Group, while NODL managed the brand's UK operations. When NODL went into administration, Authentic Brands Group cited the difficulties caused by a previous partnership as too significant to overcome.
Although there were discussions about finding new UK and European operating partners for Ted Baker, recent reports indicate that these talks have stalled. As a result, the future of the brand in the UK remains uncertain.
Ted Baker was founded in Glasgow in 1988 as a menswear brand and eventually expanded internationally. However, the company has struggled with instability in recent years, beginning with the resignation of its founder Ray Kelvin in 2019 amid allegations of misconduct, which he denied. The subsequent leadership changes and profit warnings further compounded the brand's difficulties.
