Making sense of the past seven days
The past year has not been a vintage one for French young fashion brands in the UK. First Etam and then Kookai fell victim to the tough market, and this week the shutters suddenly went down on Morgan.

The French were once seen as fashion leaders, but there are clearly immense challenges in running a licensed operation at arm's length in the UK. As with Kookai, Morgan UK's relationship with its French masters does not appear to have been entirely harmonious, and it was the decision of the main Morgan business to pull the plug on its distribution agreement that forced the immediate closure of the UK stores this week.

With stores like Topshop and New Look, the UK is a world leader in young fashion, and in today's market, having the French connection was more likely to be a burden than an advantage for the Gallic brands operating over here - an extraordinary reversal of France's traditional dominance in the world of fashion, and a tribute to the quality of UK clothing retailing.

But aside from the unique difficulties of its cross-channel status, Morgan's demise is a reflection of just how crowded the young fashion market is. There are a huge number of retailers vying for space in this market, and it isn't just the smaller fry like Morgan that are feeling the pinch, but also some of the big players like New Look.

Some 600 staff have lost their jobs through the Morgan collapse, including Simon Bentley, the well-liked former Blacks Leisure chief executive who was nearly killed in a skiing accident six years ago. Bentley took over at Morgan last summer, but with no background in women's fashion, it was always going to be a tall order. Let's hope he's back on the retail scene before too long.

At the 11th hour, Asda managed to resolve its differences with the GMB union and avert what could have been a crippling strike. It was a good end to quite a good week for the Wal-Mart owned supermarket, which, contrary to popular expectation, grew its lead over Sainsbury's in the TNS market share figures.

Asda boss Andy Bond will be hoping that the end of the industrial strife will enable him to focus on regaining momentum in the business, and ensuring the second half of 2006 is better for the supermarket than the first.

Topics