Hela Apparel’s subsidiary announces partnership with Tesco to introduce two fashion brands
The Morning: The brand licensing division of Hela Apparel Holdings PLC, Focus Brands, recently announced a partnership with Tesco to introduce its Peter Werth and Fenchurch fashion brands to the retailer’s stores across the UK.
The collaboration further enhances the Hela Group’s long-standing relationship with one of the UK’s largest retailers and will provide consumers with the opportunity to purchase two of its owned fashion brands in Tesco for the first time, with an initial rollout across 100 UK stores later this year.
Speaking about the collaboration, Hela’s Brand Licensing Division, Focus Brands CEO Ray Evans stated, “We are delighted to join forces with Tesco to bring the iconic styles of Peter Werth and Fenchurch to a wider audience. This collaboration underscores the Hela Group’s long-standing strategic relationship with Tesco and is a major step forward since the inception of the brand licensing division. Our strategy is focused on providing comprehensive solutions to the brands and retailers that we work with by leveraging the synergies between Hela’s licensing and manufacturing divisions, and this is the first example of many such collaborations being explored. We look forward to providing Tesco’s consumers with unparalleled fashion choices and continuing to build on our strong portfolio of owned and licensed fashion brands.”
Hela’s manufacturing division has been a strategic supplier to Tesco for over a decade and received the supermarket’s Empowerment Award in 2023 for its innovative supply chain solutions. The introduction of Peter Werth and Fenchurch to Tesco marks a significant evolution in this established relationship by placing two brands owned by Hela’s licensing division among the carefully curated third-party clothing labels available in Tesco’s network of stores – a landmark first for a Sri Lankan apparel company.
Peter Werth is a renowned British menswear brand established in 1975 that is synonymous with great design and takes inspiration from the sharp, formal style tribes of the 1970s to produce contemporary clothing, footwear, and accessories.
Fenchurch, which has its roots in British skate culture, offers accessible contemporary garments that maintain an urban edge. Both brands are among the fashion labels whose intellectual property was acquired as part of Hela’s purchase of Focus Brands in January 2024 and complement its portfolio of licensed brands, which includes Ellesse and Nautica.
Through the partnership with Tesco, the Hela Group will design, source, manufacture and distribute Peter Werth and Fenchurch products to a selected number of Tesco’s larger retail stores across the UK, enhancing brand visibility and availability while also offering a unique solution to build additional customer engagement for Tesco. UK consumers can now look forward to discovering a new array of products under these brands that seamlessly blend modern-day fashion with comfort and durability.
Hela Apparel Holdings PLC provides sustainability-focused apparel supply chain and brand management solutions encompassing design, sourcing, marketing, and distribution through its global footprint, which includes a brand licensing division based in the UK. The company works closely with global brands in the intimate, active and kids wear product categories. With 10 manufacturing facilities across four countries, four design centres, and six product showrooms in key markets, the Hela Group’s multifaceted workforce tops 14,000 globally, and it leads the industry in providing ethical and sustainable apparel solutions.
OSL take:
Sri Lanka’s apparel industry is one of the key sectors in the country’s manufacturing and export industries that have shown continuous expansion in the local and international markets. The apparel industry also enjoy the many benefits offered by the many trade agreements and trade concessions enjoyed by Sri Lanka with other countries. The overall strength and growth of the apparel industry is evident by the many expansion programmes undertaken by local businesses in the industry into overseas markets as well as the collaborations undertaken by Sri Lankan businesses with foreign counterparts. It is in such a backdrop that Sri Lanka’s Hela Clothing has entered into an agreement with UK’s Tesco to launch two new fashion brands. This latest endeavor between Hela and Tesco indicates a business/investment opportunity that the other local businesses in the apparel industry could also achieve. With the ongoing economic activities in Sri Lanka with the target of becoming a regional hub and the incentive schemes offered by the Sri Lankan government to foreign investors could all help attract foreign businesses/investors to explore the expanding business/investment opportunities in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry.