The Sewing Place

For Sale & Wanted => I saw this & I thought you may be interested! => Topic started by: UttaRetch on March 17, 2020, 13:29:36 PM

Title: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: UttaRetch on March 17, 2020, 13:29:36 PM
and blames covid-19 (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51927691).  However, Laura Ashley has been clinging on for years and the virus is perhaps co-incidental.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Acorn on March 17, 2020, 13:34:42 PM
It does seem rather difficult to believe it can be due to the virus at this point.  Maybe it was the final straw, but if so the collapse was really due to the previous problems.

But aside from that, wah!  It's a long time since I bought their clothes, but I have a fair amount of their wallpaper and curtain fabric in my house.  Mind you, when I last looked at their sale (a month or so ago) I couldn't find anything at all that appealed, which may be rather more relevant to their collapse.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Greybird on March 17, 2020, 14:54:43 PM
I shall be looking to buy up some of their emulsion paint if I can. It's the best I've ever used.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Tamnymore on March 17, 2020, 15:11:23 PM
Sob Sob.  :( I grew up with Laura Ashley. Inside this 60+ year old grumpy old woman there's a 1970s youngster in a long flowery dress and straw hat forever tripping through the meadows. In the 21st century I may not wear the dresses but we have loads of their wallpaper and curtains and their bedding is excellent. But they were on the decline for a long while. An icon that I shall remember fondly nevertheless.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Efemera on March 17, 2020, 15:33:27 PM
I’m not surprised....the home dept has some nice things but their clothing is just woeful...real mumsy headmistress stuff,( no disrespect to headmistresses but it’s what I remember mine looking like) it’s just never moved with the times.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: sewingj on March 17, 2020, 16:57:11 PM
Haven`t shopped there for ages but I remember discovering them in the 1970s.  Some friends and I made a trip to Oxford just to visit the shop.  We coveted the long tiered smocks but instead of buying one, bought some fabric from them for 50p a metre and shared a pattern!  (The fabric was not great quality - it was often mis-printed and shrank like mad)
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Helen M on March 17, 2020, 17:02:48 PM
I think they are playing the 'blame game' here as I read maybe 4 weeks ago that they were in difficulties.

A shame as they had some nice pieces in their winter collection. I went in and tried some on, but the sizes weren't right for me. I would have bought if they had been.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Sewbee on March 17, 2020, 17:06:07 PM
In the 90s, I adored Anthing Laura Ashley. I had loads of curtains, bed linens, etc. In their fabrics.

Recently, though I don’t think it has been as good.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Acorn on March 17, 2020, 17:06:38 PM
Interestingly, the BBC, who earlier reported that the collapse was due to the virus, is now categorically saying that it is NOT due to the virus.  Hmm.   ><
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: UttaRetch on March 17, 2020, 17:12:58 PM
I was never a Laura Ashley fan, but have been into stores over the years.  There has never been anything for me since I am not a flowery person and the clothes are meh.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Surest1tch on March 17, 2020, 20:25:24 PM
I can't say I've ever liked Laura Ashley but I've never been into tiny flower prints and frilly clothes. Im sure a lot of company's who were struggling before covid19 will blame their downfall on the virus. I do feel sorry for the staff who are going to loose their jobs though.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Marniesews on March 17, 2020, 23:51:02 PM
I have very fond memories of Laura Ashley in the late 70s. It was a very hard time for us up north during the recession that hit so very hard up there (couldn't believe the difference when we moved to Bedfordshire in the early 80s - a different world). Our business also went bust - we'd opened less than a year before the crisis and really stood no chance at all when I (as the wage earner) became pregnant.

Yet, I have fond memories of the time. It's when I really became a regular sewer using wonderful fabric remnants from the local markets. The Lancashire cotton mills were in terminal decline but the market traders had fabulous contacts and great bargains but no knits as I recall. I made so many dresses for our daughter that got admired but had cost me 25p to make! Just as well as we couldn't afford dresses from Mothercare, the precious pennies went on babygros - new, so practical and freedom from washing those long cotton nightdresses! Then one year at Christmas as a huge treat when she was 4 we saved up and bought her one gorgeous Laura Ashley silky needlecord dress. It seemed grossly expensive but I traced a pattern from it and made at least 3 more versions in market fabric, not needlecord but still perfect for the job. Much admired, they were sleeveless winter pinafore dresses with a little neat peak above the shoulder (reminded me of my dad's flat cap  0_0) and the button-back bodice was pulled in with a sash tie so I was able to make really deep hems. She got a few years wear out of them with a narrow band of ribbon hiding the crease each time they were let down. If I only ever remember one thing I made for her it will be those dresses.

After losing so much weight over the past 5 years, I've been buying clothes for myself from Laura Ashley (mostly tops) and always remembering that little girl's dress. I've often been the only one in the shop mid week so their decline has been obvious for a while.

Bye LA with thanks for the memories.   :hug:
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Lowena on March 18, 2020, 01:43:10 AM
I love Laura Ashley and will miss it
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Renegade Sewist on March 18, 2020, 01:50:16 AM
Just read an article from 2018 where they announced shuttering 40 of the 160 stores in the UK to focus on expanding their presence in China.  ;) The company was owned by a Malaysian company and has struggled since Andrew Khoo became chairman in 2018.

Laura Ashley was marvelous in the 70s as was Jessica McClintock. I often did my best to knock them off in those days. Couldn't afford to buy many.

The Laura Ashley branded Brother embroidery machines have some lovely designs built in.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: jintie on March 18, 2020, 07:10:18 AM
I made pretty little dresses for DD. They had great fabric sales. There was a lack of coordination between the fabric production side and the clothing production side!
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Acorn on March 18, 2020, 10:08:00 AM
The two dresses I made for our goddaughters last summer were made with Laura Ashley fabric that I have had since the 80s (when our oldest goddaughter was a baby).  It was really beautiful fine cotton.

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Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Fiona M on March 18, 2020, 16:20:33 PM
I haven't set foot in a Laura Ashley shop for decades.  They were always ridiculously expensive, and things were never the same after her son took over.  I'm amazed they hadn't already gone bust.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Sewcycle on March 25, 2020, 07:37:38 AM
I too remember with fondness my long Laura Ashley dress with flounce. Mine was quite hard wearing and never shrank though I did get some of their later prints which faded terribly. Does anyone remember the bags of tiny remnants they sold for patchwork quilts! I still have some of the bits. That cotton was quite heavy too.
In the late 80s, Laura Ashley expanded and opened lots of shops, one in Canterbury.  The dresses were lovely, but the quality was sometimes a bit off. I once bought a dress ( in their sales) and when I got it home realised the velvet nap was in the wrong direction on one piece- completely unwearable! Their quality control could be odd even then. I think the rapid expansion damaged them as a family company. The shop closed and they moved business to a trading estate - entirely the wrong place - and always had very few customers when I visited which hasn’t been for at least 10 years.
Re the markets, we used to get beautiful remnants in Stockport market. It helped my teenage sewing no end.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Tamnymore on March 25, 2020, 09:17:21 AM
@Sewcycle yes some of the quality control was a little strange in the early days but I had loads of great stuff from them and I still have a houseful of Laura Ashley wallpaper, paint and curtains. I have loads of duvet sets - nicest and best quality I've ever had. Sigh! I have some Laura Ashley fabric pieces in the cupboards under the eaves in the attic which I must dig out some day.

That's interesting about the remnants in Stockie market. I've lived not that far away for over 30 years and alas Stockport market hasn't had much in the way of fabric in that time. There were several good fabric shops when I first lived nearby but all have gone. Stockport Market has been doing a good job of reinventing itself with special events and a revamped produce hall with nice eateries. Like so many small businesses they will be badly hit by current events. I raise my glass to Laura Ashley of old and Stockport Market. Both fine institutions in their day.  :toast:
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Acorn on March 25, 2020, 09:31:56 AM
I still have the Laura Ashley dress I had for my 21st birthday. 
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Tamnymore on March 25, 2020, 12:38:22 PM
@Acorn has your Laura Ashley dress shrunk in the wardrobe like mine inexplicably have?  0_0
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Acorn on March 25, 2020, 12:43:09 PM
It has!   ><  Most peculiar.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Sewcycle on March 25, 2020, 13:37:15 PM
@Tamnymore Stockport market is where I started my sewing. My Mum used to go there for fabric for my “domestic science” efforts....a bit of a failure when I was 12. I know Stockport market isn’t anything like it used to be, but I got wonderful velvets and floral fabrics from there in the 70s. Glad it’s managing to save itself. Now Stockport has got to do the same!

I never bought Laura Ashley duvet covers and my husband hated all the florals but we did buy some nice wallpaper once. Nice until we tried to hang it and it stretched like anything.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: toileandtrouble on March 25, 2020, 14:15:29 PM
@Tamnymore @Acorn  As I see it, the problem is the storage.  Things I have left in the wardrobe for a while, or indeed, even put safely away in suitcases, develop this fault.  The only remedy is to keep them out in the light where you can see them.
Hope this helps!
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: coffeeandcake on March 25, 2020, 16:09:01 PM
I used to buy the Mummy and Me stuff from Laura Ashley for me and my 3 eldest daughters :D I went into the Norwich store last year and bought a couple of blouses and a jumpsuit.  I still really like their stuff so I'm sad to see them go.
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: BriarRose on March 26, 2020, 00:03:16 AM
Deep in my young 1970s heart, I loved all the ruffles and florals produced by Laura Ashley, but only in theory. I was a denim and tee shirt sort of girl, balanced by the chiffon and gold coin belts I wore for dance performances. Guess I was sort of schizo, and Laura Ashley was too sweetly sane.  ;)
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: Renegade Sewist on March 26, 2020, 00:52:20 AM
@BriarRose perhaps you would have done better with Gunne Sax and Jessica McClintock. Less frou frou.  :ninja:

Nice to see you here. ;)
Title: Re: Laura Ashley collapses ...
Post by: BriarRose on March 26, 2020, 15:40:32 PM
@BriarRose perhaps you would have done better with Gunne Sax and Jessica McClintock. Less frou frou.  :ninja:

Nice to see you here. ;)

I adored Gunne Sax and actually splurged on a gorgeous GS sundress one year. Truly wanted a GS wedding dress that I tried on half a dozen times, but it cost twice what it cost to make my own dress, so I let it go.

Nice to see you, too. I've missed you.