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Deryanne Tadd set up her independent, multi-brand boutique, The Dressing Room, in St Albans 20 years ago. Over the past two decades it has successfully navigated through numerous challenges from the advent of e-commerce to the lockdowns of the pandemic and, to this day, remains a shining light of British independent fashion retail. Tadd is one of the most familiar and respected faces at trade shows, both in the UK and internationally, and leads a team of 20 at her business, which at any time stocks around 100 brands both online and in-store. She talks the TheIndustry.fashion about what drove her to set up the business and what continues to drive her to succeed and innovate in one of the most challenging sectors of retail. Congratulations on your 20-year anniversary! Before we get to that, can we take you back to your career before The Dressing Room, how did you start out in fashion and what did you do? Thank you! And yes, let’s start at the beginning! I am a true shop girl through and through, I started my career on the shopfloor as a sales assistant back in the early 90’s for high street retailers such as Knickerbox, StirlingCooper and Warehouse. I rose through the ranks from sales assistant through to store management and secured a job as Store Manager and buyer for a new franchise business for French Connection. With zero buying experience I quickly learnt on the job with mentoring from my boss at the time and soon became Operations & Buying Director for the business and together we opened five franchise stores in the South East over 7 years.  In 2004 the business was sold back to the parent company and that was decision time, do I go and work for a large corporation again or shall I take a leap of faith and start my own business? There was really no contest, I knew I had to start out on my own and began working on my business plan for The Dressing Room whilst doing a temporary stint as an Area Manager for the London area for LK Bennett. I secured funding with a loan secured against my home and set about finding the right location to launch my business. I knew I wanted to open the business in an affluent commuter town, so I was looking at units in Marlow, Henley, Windsor and St Albans. Eventually after 6 months of searching a small 550 sq ft unit became available in a secondary location in St Albans and that was where the business was born. Deryanne Tadd keeps full control of the buying process for her business You established The Dressing Room in 2005, what was the opportunity you saw then and what did the store look like at the start in terms of the brands you stocked? I wanted to open a multi-brand store that mixed niche labels with contemporary brands with an affordable to aspirational product mix.  The service needed to be second to none, with a strong emphasis on styling and making women feel fantastic, whether they were buying one item of investing in a new wardrobe.  I launched with a handful of brands at fairly short notice in terms of the buying calendar. The mix was made up of entry price points from Great Plains which I knew well from my French Connection days alongside boutique brands such as Antik Batik, Hale Bob, Essentiel and 7 for all mankind.  I still stock Hale Bob and Essentiel to this day! That was on the eve of the big e-commerce explosion in fashion with Net-A-Porter coming into its own and brands like Farfetch and Matches starting on the e-commerce journey, how did you feel about that at the time? Was e-commerce always on the horizon? E-commerce wasn’t part of my original business plan and wasn’t really part of my strategy back in 2005/2006.  My plan was to open 5-10 small stores around the south east area, but once I saw the opportunity for my business in St Albans and the growing appetite for online shopping I quickly pivoted and changed direction.  18 months after opening in the small store I moved to a location four times the size on the high street in St Albans, expanding my bricks and mortar. E-commerce followed soon after with the launch of the-dressingroom.com in 2008. It was a slow burn in the beginning and took a long time to develop that side of the business into the revenue driver that it is now. How did you go about finding your customer base and how did you set about buying for her? Did you have a persona in mind or was it more gut feel? I didn’t have a rigid persona on paper, but I had a very clear sense, instinctively, of who my customer was. A lot of it came down to gut feel, experience and being totally in tune with the kind of woman I wanted to dress: confident, stylish, busy – someone who wants to feel great in what she wears without having to follow trends blindly. It was also about tapping into those women that had lost their way and sense of self through lifestyle changes and making them feel fantastic through fashion and style. Finding the customer base started with creating a physical space and atmosphere that felt welcoming, inspiring and different.  I wanted every woman that walked through the door or visited us online to feel that she was being personally looked after. Celebrating 20 years of The Dressing Room with customers Have there been particularly memorable milestones along your 20-year journey and what did you learn from them? There have been so many meaningful moments over the past 20 years.  Launching my online store a game-changer – suddenly we could have a much wider audience but staying true to my boutique experience online became more important the ever. Navigating through the pandemic was one of the biggest challenges, it pushed

The future of beloved jewellery and accessories chain Claire’s hangs in the balance, as high street investor Hilco Capital emerges as a frontrunner to rescue the retailer’s UK arm from potential collapse. Hilco, known for backing household names such as Superdry, HMV and Lakeland, is expected to be among the initial bidders for Claire’s UK operations in the coming weeks, according to Sky News. The high street staple, which operates 280 stores across Britain, is racing against time to resolve mounting financial pressures ahead of a looming $480 million (£356 million) loan repayment due in December 2026. Earlier this month, Claire’s appointed restructuring advisers from Interpath, alongside Houlihan Lokey and Alvarez & Marsal, to explore options including a partial sale of its UK business. The move reflects a broader cost-saving strategy by its US-based parent company, which runs over 2,000 stores worldwide and is reportedly also exploring bankruptcy protection. Claire’s UK operations have faced mounting losses totalling £25 million over the past three years, with the most recent accounts revealing a £4.7 million loss on £137 million in sales (year ending March 2024). Inflation, wage increases, supply chain disruptions, and the impact of US tariffs on Chinese-made goods have all eroded margins, while online competitors have siphoned off its young fashion-savvy customer base. Industry insiders described the situation as “a real mess” to The Telegraph, warning that significant store closures are likely part of any potential deal. Private equity firms Alteri Investors and Modella Capital (which recently acquired WH Smith’s high street stores) are also said to be circling. Claire’s, famous for its ear piercing stations and glitter-stacked displays, became a fixture of the British high street in the late ’90s and early 2000s. Though the brand has seen periods of reinvention, including a 2018 bankruptcy in the US, its recent struggles echos wider struggles on the British high street as retailers wrestle with changing consumer habits and digital disruption. Should a buyer be found, Claire’s may avoid becoming another cautionary tale of retail nostalgia or a master revival.

John Lewis employees could be in line for a bonus for the first time in four years, as the retailer pushes ahead with its turnaround strategy. The payout depends on the employee-owned partnership surpassing a £200 million profit target. According to The Financial Times, the company stated that if profits exceed that threshold, “we would recommend to the board that we pay a bonus.” The group said it is “aiming to make over £200 million profit” for the year ending January 2026, adding that “to get there we need to keep focused on the right things and deliver our plans.” New Chairman Jason Tarry is leading the company’s revival following a tough stretch of declining sales and financial losses. For the year ending January 2025, profit before tax rose to £97 million, up from £56 million the previous year. This marked the company’s second consecutive year of positive earnings, after three years of losses. It expects to grow profits further in the current financial year. The prospect of a bonus comes amid growing pressure on the company to reinstate staff payouts, as it works to stabilise operations and drive long-term growth. In recent months, some employees have voiced frustration, publishing an open letter and launching a petition via Organise – a platform supporting worker-led campaigns – calling on management to restore the annual bonus. They argued that withholding bonuses, even as the company returns to profitability, undermines the principles of the partnership model. The last bonus was paid out for the year ending January 2022. In response, John Lewis previously said it did not believe awarding a bonus was appropriate, as it focused on reinvesting in the business following a challenging period. The company also pointed out that it had increased staff pay by £114 million earlier in the year.

Profit alerts among retailers more than doubled in the second quarter as consumers reined in their spending and firms faced soaring wage costs, according to a report. The latest report from EY-Parthenon also revealed that overall profit warnings among UK-listed firms jumped by a fifth year-on-year in the second quarter – with a record proportion citing policy changes and geopolitical uncertainty as the leading factor. The data showed that seven UK-listed retailers, including supermarkets, cut profit guidance between April and June. Britain’s retail sector has come under significant pressure since last autumn’s Budget move to hike National Insurance Contributions (NICs) and the minimum wage, both taking effect in April. But EY said the high street was also facing tough consumer spending challenges, with shoppers cutting back and focusing on value. EY partner Silvia Rindone said the spike in retail warnings “highlights both softening consumer demand and the deeper structural headwinds facing the sector”. “Retailers we speak to tell us that falling sales are currently indicative of a longer-term shift, with consumers becoming more value-focused and less brand-loyal, which leaves cost-pressured retailers in a bind,” she said. Tariff woes sparked by US President Donald Trump waging a trade war also featured heavily in the report, contributing to a rise in the number of alerts more widely across corporate plc. The report found that the number of profit warnings issued by UK-listed companies rose by 20% to 59 in the second quarter compared with 49 a year ago. The top factor was policy change and geopolitical uncertainty, cited in nearly half (46%) of all warnings – up from 4% a year earlier and the highest since the study was launched over 25 years ago. Over one in three (34%) warnings flagged tariff-related impacts, such as weaker demand, supply chain disruption and volatility in currency movements. The proportion of warnings to cite contract and order cancellations or delays remained at a record high of 40% in the quarter. Jo Robinson, EY-Parthenon partner and turnaround and restructuring strategy leader, said: “The latest profit warnings data reflects the scale of persistent uncertainty and how heavy it continues to weigh on UK businesses. “While this uncertainty has been a recurring theme since mid-2024, it has intensified so far this year – driven largely by geopolitical tensions and policy shifts – compounding pressure on both earnings and forecasts. “While the announcement of global tariffs has clearly played a part in amplifying uncertainty, they are just one factor among broader geopolitical and policy upheaval.”

Consumer confidence in the UK took a sharp turn in Q2 2025, according to Deloitte’s latest Consumer Tracker, falling by 2.6% to 10.4%, which is the lowest level recorded since early 2024. The drop marks the first significant dip in sentiment since October 2022, when inflation hit a 40-year high. The decline spans all six of Deloitte’s consumer confidence measures, with job security registering the steepest fall, down 4.8%. Sentiment around job opportunities and career progression also slid by 3.9%, reflecting concerns over rising employer costs and a cooling labour market. Céline Fenech, consumer insight lead at Deloitte, said: “For the last few years, we have seen consumer confidence remain relatively resilient despite several economic challenges, geopolitical uncertainty, and the increased cost of living. “After recovering from its lowest level on record in the third quarter of 2022, when inflation peaked to a historic high, our consumer confidence index has declined for the first time in almost three years. “This drop in confidence signals a weakening of consumers’ resilience, as concerns of a slowing labour market have left consumers worried about job security and income growth prospects, while persistent inflation and a high cost of living have negatively impacted sentiment towards personal debt. However, we have seen how the mood of the consumer can change and adapt to new circumstances. If an uptick in both economic growth and business sentiment reduces pressures on the job market and on earnings, a return to positive confidence could still be on the cards.” In a contradictory twist, while overall confidence declined, consumers were slightly more optimistic about the UK economy itself. Confidence in the state of the economy rose by 3.9% compared to the previous quarter, although this remains 18.4% lower than in Q2 2024. Ian Stewart, Chief Economist at Deloitte, added: “Activity in the UK has slowed in recent months, but an uptick in business confidence seen in the latest Deloitte CFO Survey testifies to continued resilience amid geopolitical uncertainties. “Higher inflation – which is well above levels in the US and EU – coupled with a weaker jobs market is weighing on consumer sentiment. The UK is unlikely to see inflation returning to the two per cent rate that prevailed last summer until well into 2026, so the UK consumer will have to navigate several months of uncomfortably high inflation.” While essential spending declined by 4.6%, discretionary spending was up by 1.5%, with notable increases in clothing and footwear (up by 6.6%). Oliver Vernon-Harcourt, Partner and Head of Retail at Deloitte, commented: “Overall, consumer spending has been more volatile in recent months, showing both positive and negative trends. Consumers remain cautious, no doubt due to the impact of persistent food inflation and higher energy prices. As demand for bigger ticket items such as appliances, electricals, and furniture remained slow in Q2, consumers also spent less on essentials as they prioritised saving and spending disposable income on holidays and eating out. “Overall, tactical spending has become more embedded in consumers’ behaviours and combined with their concerns about the outlook for jobs and unemployment, could mean consumer demand will remain subdued until confidence in the UK economy further strengthens and stabilises. Looking ahead, more positive data will be required to back up any sustained growth in consumer spending.” For fashion brands, this signals a to offer to provide more value and emotional resonance to win their share of wallets in the months ahead.

An asylum seeker deported from the US to the notorious El Salvador prison, Hernández Romero was identified arriving in Venezuela as part of a prisoner swap.