Toast releases upbeat sales figures as repositioning pays off

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Apr 11, 2017

French Connection may be struggling but its Toast brand appears to be doing well on the back of a brand repositioning driven by CEO Suzie de Rohan Willner.

The 20-year-old company said this week that it saw a 17% increase in its most recent full-year revenue with full-price sales for the autumn/winter 2016/17 collection and for “continuity product” up 81% year-on-year.

Average order values rose and the company saw online sales up a healthy 20%. But store sales also increased, rising 14%, as the firm opened new locations in the UK. It is also planning international moves.

De Rohan Willner previously worked at Timberland, Dockers, Levi Strauss, Puma and FitFlop and joined the company in 2015. She has focused on “orchestrating a delicate brand repositioning, bringing Toast back to its roots”. What that means in practice is positioning it as a timeless lifestyle brand “that encourages a more thoughtful approach to life.”

The company said that since 2015, the CEO has hired a new senior team of creatives, who have produced some of the brand’s most successful collections to date.