Long Tall Sally to continue as Yours Clothing buys brand

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Aug 19, 2020

Failed  specialist sizes brand Long Tall Sally (LTS) is to continue with special sizes peer Yours Clothing having acquired the retailer for an undisclosed sum. 

LTS caters for tall women who struggle to find suitably proportioned clothing elsewhere, while Yours targets larger sizes through its eponymous label and the Bad Rhino brand for men. It also operates the Bump It Up maternity label.

Yours chief Andrew Killingsworth has acquired the brand through AK Retail, taking on its online business and its intellectual property. No physical shops are included in the deal but the new owner isn't ruling out a move into physical retail in the future.

“We will continue to trade LTS as an online proposition and at this moment in time do not anticipate any retail stores, but that could change as we start developing the brand from September,” it said.

It's clearly a good fit for the company as specialist sizes continue to be neglected by many mainstream retailers, despite high demand.

The company said the LTS buy will create up to 30 additional jobs and opportunities at its Peterborough HQ “across all functions as we look for talented people to help us develop the brand further”.

LTS was owned by Germany-based TriStyle Mode GmbH and once had nine UK stores, as well as 16 in Germany and North America (where around half of its sales are sourced). These were shut down in 2018 and 2019.

AK Retail will officially take over the brand on September 1, which should be good news for customers who had expected it to be wound down.

Yours Clothing has been growing in recent periods, although sales suffered during the lockdown in the UK. It employs 1,200 people at its HQ.