Taking Liberty to X Factor generation
The Frenchman running Liberty told today how he transformed the store from a fusty fashion backwater to a destination for the X Factor generation.
Geoffroy de la Bourdonnaye, 52, last night won the Français Businessman of the Year award after steering the company to the brink of profitability for the first time in a decade, overturning a pre-tax loss of £6.4million in two years.
Christmas sales have boomed, thanks mainly to young shoppers. "It is the baby boomers who have been most hit by the recession - the twenty-somethings, with no mortgage, no family, continue to spend," said the chief executive. "But they spend less on each item. Who wants to buy a bag at £1,000? Not the young."
Slumdog Millionaire star Freida Pinto re-opened the Regent Street store this year with labels including collaborations with Kate Moss and Grayson Perry. There are also more gifts under £60, including accessories such as Fifties turban-style Liberty print hairbands and leather belt buckles embossed with the store's motif.
Two years after Mr de la Bourdonnaye joined Liberty, the company's underlying earnings are in the black for the first time since 1999. Pre-tax losses were down to £2.4million and sales up 18 per cent to £25.3 million in the six months to 30 June.
His achievement was noted by his fellow expats who honoured him at Maison du Languedoc-Roussillon, Cavendish Square. He is gracious in his success at turning around a London institution. "You need to be less tied to something culturally to see what is needed," he said. "With Liberty I haven't grown up with its heritage so it's easier for me to respect it but play with it."
An important part of Mr de la Bourdonnaye's work has been with Liberty's traditional textiles. Fabric sales rose nearly 28 per cent in the first half of the year as Nike, Comme des Garçons, Cacharel and Balmain used its florals.
"We have reconnected to the company's roots, which is to be avant garde and accessible," he said. "That was the ethos of founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty."
