Marquee Brands rang in 2025 with a big new deal — scooping up U.K. fashion mainstay Laura Ashley.
The 72-year-old brand adds $750 million in retail sales to Marquee, which specializes in using licensing deals to accelerate established brands around the world.
Many of the businesses that enter the brand management world have their own operating units and need to be converted to an intellectual property and licensing-heavy model, but Laura Ashley is already there.
Gordon Brothers bought the brand out of administration in 2020 and reset its business, building it back up with licensed partners. The brand is already distributed in more than 80 countries through wholesalers and digital marketplaces and has a total of 150 stores and shops-in-shop.
Now Heath Golden, chief executive officer of Marquee, is ready to take the already growing business to the next level — while also using the Laura Ashley relationships and U.K. office to help build out his other brands.
“There are a lot of complimentary synergistic things we can do here,” Golden told WWD. “Laura Ashley really has done very well building itself out across Europe and Asia.”
Marquee, which was established by Neuberger Berman in 2014, already works with about 225 licenses. While there is some overlap with Laura Ashley’s 100 or so partners, Golden said there are plenty of opportunities to make some new connections.
“We will accelerate the great growth of Laura Ashley across its partners, very seamlessly with no disruption, as we then also think to look for other opportunities to further accelerate and cross-pollinate across other categories and geographies,” Golden said.
The iconic brand was founded in 1953 by husband-and-wife team Bernard and Laura Ashley, who developed a loyal following in the Seventies and Eighties, catching the high-profile attention of a young Princess Diana and other Sloane Rangers with its frilly, Victorian-inspired blouses and print dresses. It also had a well-established home products business.
Laura died in 1985 and Bernard kept running the business, which had gone public, until 1993. The brand had lost substantial momentum by then and after Bernard Ashley stepped aside it struggled through a series of management changes and attempted reinventions that never took off. The company was later controlled by Malaysian Chinese businessman Khoo Kay Peng until it filed for administration and passed to Gordon Brothers.
Laura Ashley home.
Courtesy
With Laura Ashley, Marquee now has 18 brands across three broad categories — home and culinary, fashion and lifestyle and active and outdoor— including Martha Stewart, Ben Sherman, Totes, Isotoner, Motherhood Maternity and Body Glove.
It’s a portfolio that, with Laura Ashley, produces more than $4 billion in annual retail sales and is set to keep growing, organically and through more acquisitions this year.
With the deal, Marquee is picking up Laura Ashley’s 18 U.K.-based employees who have built the business to its current state.
“We have an expanded team now, firmly planting a flag in Europe with a new U.K. office…and a great infrastructure to leverage,” Golden said.
While the company plans to focus “first and foremost” on organic growth, the CEO said Marquee would also do “some number of acquisitions” in 2025.
The IP players, which in addition to Marquee include Authentic Brands Group and WHP Global, have been steadily snapping up brands across fashion. Just last year, Authentic bought Champion, while Marquee acquired Totes and Isotoner and WHP inked a deal to take on Vera Wang.
While it’s a business model that over the years has snapped up many tired brands and tried to squeeze more growth out of them, proponents say the approach is changing, with better businesses entering the pipeline as fashion’s business landscape shifts.
Golden described Laura Ashley as a strong business that is now positioned to grow stronger.
“The brand management model is not necessarily about buying distressed brands, it’s about growing timeless brands,” Golden said.
“When you have a brand that has sustained itself over 50 years, it’s well known and with our skillset should be very capable of being expanded by category and by geography,” he said. “That’s where our model works best. [Laura Ashley] is a brand that has been around for over 70 years, has an aesthetic that has endured and proven to be timeless. Europe, Asia are growing quickly, the U.S. and other continents there available for growth, other categories available there for growth. That’s where Marquee shines.
“We’re really at the inflection point,” Golden said. “We’ve built very methodically and strategically at Marquee.”
To manage its growth spurt, the company named Rachel Terrace chief commercial and growth officer, putting her on top of all three verticals. John Hayes came on board as chief financial officer while Joseph Zarro joined as chief business development officer and Natasha Fishman was named chief marketing officer.
