Fashion
Revolution Beauty co-founders return, firm no longer for sale, results look weak
Published
August 22, 2025
In what’s been a turbulent period for Revolution Beauty Group, the company’s ending August with some positive news. It now wants to remain independent and aims to raise around £15 million in new funding under returning CEO Tom Allsworth.
He was a co-founder along with also-returning-as-a-consultant co-founder Adam Minto. They’d both quit earlier after a series of accounting issues.
Their return comes as the new injection of cash is going to be needed because the multi-channel mass-market beauty group’s latest accounts released Friday (22 August) revealed sales for the year ended 28 March were down by a quarter, as margins plummeted and losses grew.
No wonder relatively new chairman Iain McDonald said the business, currently valued at just £11 million, had “lost its way”.
But he bullishly added: “We are confident that with a return to the founder-led management team who originally scaled the brand, there is a clear path back to growth and long-term value creation.”
So that means Allsworth now filling the CEO role vacated in April by the departed Lauren Brindley, to ignite the new era.
That comes as the business also announced it’s out of the ‘for sale’ market having failed to receive a “recommendable” offer since May.
Offers had included usual suspect Frasers Group, although at the time reports suggested any such move could “stoke animosity” between Frasers and Boohoo/Debenhams Group, a major shareholder of Revolution Beauty.
Declining performance
Under Ellsworth’s guidance, there’s a lot of work to do as the business revealed a further deterioration of performance.
Sales for the year to end-March (FY25) fell 25.5% year-on-year to £142.6 million, after the planned rationalisation of product and brand portfolio.
Net sales in Q1 of FY26 have also declined 29% compared to FY25, although it said decline rates had improved in June and July. It expects revenues for Q2 to be lower than the same period for FY25 by around 25%.
Gross margin for the year dipped to 38.2% from 46.2% “after significant impact from the planned clearance of non-core inventory”.
Revolution Beauty has also plunged to a £16.8 million statutory loss before tax, compared to an £11.4 million profit last year.
On the plus side, it said retail distribution has been expanded in certain key geographies with some customer wins and space increases. Gross inventory has been reduced by 41.1% to £33 million and the number of social media followers has grown.
Revolution Beauty says action has been taken to address the issues by resurrecting profitable stock-keeping units that have been discontinued, relaunching the Relove value brand with new retail distribution partners and establishing a profitable discount outlet channel.
The pipeline on new product development has been enhanced, with more digital-first product launches planned, it added.
There are also a number of markets and retail customers where performance has continued to be strong or improved. Sales on Amazon in both Europe and the US have continued to show strong growth.
“Significant” US retail customers have returned to year-on-year growth and sales in some international markets, such as Turkey, “have exceeded expectations”.
“Consequently, the company expects year-on-year revenue decline rates to reduce significantly in the second half of the year”, it reiterated.
CEO and co-founder comeback
As noted, Allsworth is due to return to the business as CEO “in days” to lead a “revised and rebalanced business plan to set a clear path back to growth and long-term value creation”. He will work alongside his fellow co-founder Adam Minto as a consultant to the company.
At the heart of this plan is a return to Revolution Beauty’s original formula for success “fast, trend-driven innovation combined with a product-led strategy”.
Based on the performance of the business in the first four months of FY26, the company now expects to achieve revenues in the range of £110 million-£120 million while recouping EBITDA losses incurred in the first half of the year, so that adjusted EBITDA of low-single-digit millions will be achieved.
Meanwhile, the £15 million equity fundraising “will enable the company to reduce its level of net debt and provide sufficient working capital to support the re-balanced plan”. The company is also set to announce it has extended its revolving credit facility until July 2028.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
NITMA president Sidharth Khanna warned that the current inverted duty structure—where polyester staple fibre (PSF) is taxed at 18 per cent and polyester spun yarn (PSY) at 12 per cent while fabric is at 5 per cent—is unworkable for spinners. He urged a cut in PSF and PSY rates to 5 per cent to align with fabric.
India’s textile sector is under strain as steep US tariffs take effect today.
The Northern India Textile Mills Association (NITMA) has urged the GST Council, meeting on September 3–4, 2025, to address the inverted duty structure in the man-made fibre value chain by reducing GST on polyester staple fibre (18 per cent) and polyester spun yarn (12 per cent) to 5 per cent, aligning with fabric.
According to Khanna, the present system burdens the industry with blocked working capital in GST refunds, unutilised input tax credits, administrative delays, loss of state SGST incentives, and unfair competition from imports.
“This is a critical moment for India’s textile sector. Decisive action to remove the inverted duty structure will not only counteract the impact of US tariffs but also unlock growth and investment across the MMF value chain, thereby making this event a blessing in disguise,” Khanna stressed.
Fibre2Fashion News Desk (KD)
Published
August 28, 2025
A Deutsche Bank report this week has sent the share prices of a number of UK retailers down on the back of falling consumer confidence, and it looks like retailer confidence is low too if the latest CBI retail report is a guide.
First, a quick look at that Deutsche Bank report. It showed UK consumer confidence at a post-pandemic low and raised fears that autumn will be tough for discretionary retailers. Big names such as Next, M&S and Primark owner ABF saw their share prices falling with ABF’s price down as much as 6% in recent days.
It coincided with the latest CBI retailer survey that showed retail sales volumes “fell at a strong pace in the year to August, extending the downturn to an 11th consecutive month”.
That said, the business body reported retailers expecting the pace of decline to ease in September. So perhaps those share price falls may be reversed soon?
Regardless, the CBI report wasn’t exactly upbeat. It said weak demand and gloomy sentiment continue to weigh on retailers’ investment and hiring plans. Price pressures remain elevated, with selling prices rising at their fastest rate since November 2023.
Year-on-year retail sales volumes fell at a strong pace in August with a weighted balance of -32% from -34% in July. Sales are expected to decline at a slower rate next month (-16%).
First though, an explanation. Those figures don’t mean that the volume of sales fell by 34%. Instead, the weighted balance showed 34% of retailers saying their sales fell to one degree or another.
Back with the report, retail sales for the time of year were judged to be “poor”, to a somewhat greater extent than in July (-19% from -10% in July). Next month’s sales are set to remain below seasonal norms to a similar degree (-20%).
Sentiment among retailers remained poor, with their business situation expected to deteriorate over the coming quarter, but to a lesser extent than last quarter (-10% from -29% in May).
Retailers also expect to reduce capital expenditure over the next 12 months (compared to the previous 12) to a slightly lesser degree than in May (-42% from -47% in May), but intentions remain poor by historical standards (long-run average of -3%).
Meanwhile retail employment continued to decline at a broadly unchanged rate in the year to August (-14% from -15% in May). Headcount is expected to fall at a slightly quicker pace next month (-19%).
And the survey showed retail selling prices rose in the year to August at the fastest rate since November 2023 (+65% from +35% in May). Retailers anticipate selling prices to increase at a relatively slower pace in September (+43%).
Online retail sales volumes were broadly flat in the year to August (+3% from +4% in July) but are expected to contract at a fast rate in September (-35%).
Martin Sartorius, CBI Principal Economist, said of this: “Retailers endured another tough month in August. Weak demand and higher labour costs continue to put pressure on margins, dampening sentiment across the retail and wider distribution sector. This downbeat outlook is reflected in firms’ plans to scale back investment and hiring.
“The government’s fiscal decisions are continuing to bite, and retailers’ struggles send a clear signal: business cannot be asked to balance the books again at the Autumn Budget. Building business confidence through delivery must be the priority — starting with a rethink of the Employment Rights Bill, which risks piling on unnecessary costs and holding back jobs and investment.”
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
Published
August 28, 2025
Central London’s department stores continue to attract brands for pop-ups and permanent spaces with Selfridges, Harrods and Liberty all adding key names recently.
Luxury lifestyle brand Smythson of Bond Street has opened a new concession in the latter. It’s in Liberty’s homewares department on the third floor. The brand’s signature diaries, notebooks, and stationery, along with a selection of leather accessories and a curated edit of the brand’s bestselling bags are all on offer with personalisation also available.
The brands have developed an exclusive limited-edition range of Smythson x Liberty products with the first collection having just launched. There’s a selection of signature notebooks and diaries in Liberty Purple, Smythson’s Nile Blue, and a seasonal Coral colourway, each lined with a Liberty silk in coordinating colours. The second edit, launching in November, will feature a range of bestselling accessories.
Meanwhile UK-based padel apparel brand Pulco has debuted at Harrods, becoming the store’s first-ever padel clothing label, underlining the sport’s surging popularity.
Products on offer include the key Aircon shirt made from an ultra-lightweight, Italian-engineered fabric “featuring a breakthrough weave that rapidly wicks moisture from the inside out, delivering unrivalled breathability and comfort in play”.
But as well as performance-wear, there’s a full lifestyle offering “blending elevated athletic apparel with understated, off-court elegance”. That means shirts, shorts, hoodies, jackets, T-shirts, sweatpants, caps, socks and more. Retail prices range from £10 up to £165.
And back in the West End, Samsøe Samsøe has moved to a new space within Selfridges that presents the Scandinavian brand’s contemporary womenswear “within the universe of its experiential design”. The pop-up revolves around the AW25 collection that also inspires the space, “which emulates the immersive ‘Radiant Connection’ exhibition” that Samsøe Samsøe introduced the collection with during Copenhagen Fashion Week.
Set against the backdrop of the exhibition’s set design and illustrated by the lookbook imagery of the season, the pop-up “becomes illuminated with the lime green shade that defines the visual identity” of the collection.
The brand said the pop-up is a “next step within Samsøe Samsøe’s ever-increasing focus on the UK market” and should help it reach new consumers.
Copyright © 2025 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
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