Dragons' Den star's fire damped as Hawes & Curtis goes into the red

Hawes & Curtis, the Savile Row tailor run by Dragons’ Den star Touker Suleyman, plunged into the red in 2015 as tough high-street conditions and heavy investment took their toll.

The company made a loss of £634,000 last year, after a £670,000 profit the year before. Sales at stores open for more than a year fell 3%.

“Every retailer is suffering. We are overshopped,” Suleyman told the Standard. “We’re very lucky we haven’t got many stores.”

Suleyman, who became a Dragon in March 2015, blamed a combination of factors for the slump, including intense price competition and increased spending.

He splashed out £700,000 on an online platform and brought roles like marketing in-house.

Despite little improvement in the UK retail market, Suleyman said he has continued to invest to turn the chain into a lifestyle brand less reliant on shirt sales, while ranges have become more fashion-led.

Growing internationally is also a priority, and more concessions and a flagship store in the US are in the offing.

That should help the company to withstand pressure from the pound’s slump against the dollar — the currency the firm uses to buy goods — which should start to come through next year.

Nevertheless he expects Hawes & Curtis to return to profit in 2017. “We are taking a longer-term view. We are going very digital … have made a lot of investment and have a clear strategy.”