Ted’s quirky style adds up

Tesco wasn’t the only retailer hosting analysts this week.

While the food specialists were in Asia with Tesco - and no doubt pleased to have got out of Korea before the shooting started - followers of fashion were in London’s grungy Camden visiting Ted Baker’s headquarters, the Ugly Brown Building.

Ahead of the meeting the plan was apparently for the briefings to follow a speed-dating model. That would be in typically idiosyncratic Ted Baker style - a quality that has stood the quirky fashion specialist in good stead.

While trendy apparel retailer SuperGroup has been fashionable with investors since its flotation earlier this year, Ted Baker’s shares have been pretty natty too. In the last three months they have climbed almost 25%.

Ted Baker updated earlier this month, when it posted retail sales growth of 8.6% over 13 weeks and wholesale turnover leaped 76%. Trading was on the up overseas and, although growth had slowed a little in the UK, analysts were relaxed.

Ted Baker is one of the few genuine brands created in UK fashion in recent years. That’s thanks in part to the unique identity stamped on the business and everything it does by eccentric chief executive Ray Kelvin whose alter ego gives the retailer its name.

Differentiation is often talked about in fashion, but less often achieved and Ted is one of the success stories. Its distinctive way of doing business helps set Ted’s threads apart and ahead of the analysts’ visit, scheduled for Wednesday, some brokers were speculating about the potential for upgrades.

The retailer makes the most of its Britishness - its second Manhattan store, which opened on Tuesday, features fixtures such as fishing rods and cricket bats. Perhaps it might be a beneficiary of next year’s royal wedding as a result but, if so, that will just be a bonus for a business that has so far stood the test of time in the capricious fashion world and looks likely to continue to deliver.