Marquee Brands Acquires Heritage Lifestyle Brand Laura Ashley

Retail
Written By Rick Watson

Laura Ashley is a heritage lifestyle brand known for its fashion, home furnishings, and iconic floral prints.

Marquee Brands has acquired home, lifestyle, and fashion company Laura Ashley from Gordon Brothers for an undisclosed amount. A legacy heritage British brand that was insolvent in 2020 turned around through licensing, cross-border retail, and e-commerce has been acquired by a private investment-backed multi-brand owner. We are going to see this storyline repeated in 2025.

Retail Dive: Marquee Brands acquires Laura Ashley

Rick Watson

Rick Watson founded RMW Commerce Consulting after spending 20+ years as a technology entrepreneur and operator exclusively in the eCommerce industry with companies like ChannelAdvisor, BarnesandNoble.com, Merchantry, and Pitney Bowes.

Watson’s work today is centered on supporting investors and management teams incubating and growing direct-to-consumer businesses. Most recently, in partnership with WHP Global, Rick was a critical resource in architecting the WHP+ platform, a new turnkey direct to consumer digital e-commerce platform that powers AnneKlein.com and JosephAbboud.com.

Watson also hosts a weekly podcast, Watson Weekly, where he shares an unbiased, unfiltered expert take on the retail sector’s biggest players.

In the past year alone, Rick has spoken at many in-person and virtual events as well as podcasts on topics ranging from retail/ecom to supply chain/logistics and even digital grocery including CommerceNext IRL, ASCM Connect, and Retail Innovation Conference.

https://www.rmwcommerce.com/
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