High and Mighty is a

clothing Clothing (also known as clothes, apparel, and attire) are items worn on the body. Typically, clothing is made of fabrics or textiles, but over time it has included garments made from animal skin and other thin sheets of materials and natural ...

retail chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

for tall and/or wide men in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. After having been family-owned for more than fifty years, it was sold to mailorder group N Brown in September 2009.

History

The company was founded in Hull in 1956 by tailor Bernard Levy, as a mailorder company. The company's first store was opened in

Edgware Road Edgware Road is a major road in London, England. The route originated as part of Roman Watling Street and, unusually in London, it runs for 10 miles in an almost perfectly straight line. Forming part of the modern A5 road, Edgware Road undergoes ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in 1959 as Northern Outsize Menswear, soon followed by several more stores. The company changed its name to High and Mighty in the 1970s, and in 1979 it opened stores in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut, outside of Manhattan. It is Connecticut's second-most populous city, behind Bridgeport. With a population of 135,470, Stamford passed Hartford and New Haven in population as of the 2020 ...

, trading as ''London Majesty''. It was, however, forced to close the two US stores in 1991. In 1990, Bernard Levy's daughter, Judith Levy, took over as chairman and managing director, and in 1996 her sister, Ruth Levy-So, joined as business development director. By 2000, the company had 23 stores in the UK and 10 in

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, and launched its own urban streetwear brand, Kayak. By 2008, the company started to have financial difficulties, partly because of increased competition from

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...

retailers. In September 2009 it went into pre-pack administration and was quickly bought by the

N Brown Group N Brown Group plc () is an online retailer headquartered in Manchester, England. N Brown offers a range of products, predominantly clothing, footwear and homewares with a focus on underserved customer groups. The company is listed on the London St ...

's main subsidiary, mailorder firm JD Williams, for £1.6 million. 14 of the 21 stores were included in the purchase, and the N Brown management said that they wanted to reinvigorate and expand the chain, which is N Brown's first branded foray on to the high street. The High and Mighty

was quickly expanded following the purchase, and several new stores were planned. By September 2010, the number of existing or soon to open stores had risen from 14 to 17, and the

flagship store A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically the fi ...

on Edgware Road had been revamped and relaunched with the new High and Mighty look.Red C create a new look for High and Mighty
Red C, 26 March 2010. Retrieved 29 October 2010

Current situation

The online fashion retailer N Brown announced plans in June 201
to close all 20
of its high street stores in the UK. The stores, trading under the names High & Mighty, Jacamo and Simply Be, have now closed with the loss of 270 jobs.

References

{{reflist

External links

High and Mighty site
Clothing companies established in 1956 Retail companies established in 1956 Defunct companies of Kingston upon Hull Clothing retailers of England Clothing companies of England 1956 establishments in England