Republic was a clothing

retail Retail is the sale of goods and Service (economics), services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturing, manufacturers, dire ...

er with 121 stores 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 ...

. In February 2013, it entered administration, and was purchased by

Sports Direct Frasers Group plc (formerly known as Sports Direct International plc) is a British retail, sport and intellectual property group, named after its ownership of the department store chain House of Fraser. The company is best known for trading pre ...

. Republic was merged into Sports Direct's USC brand.

History

Founded in 1985, as Just Jeans, after 1990, the name changed to Best Jeanswear; Republic was launched in 1998. It was a private

limited company In a limited company, the liability of members or subscribers of the company is limited to what they have invested or guaranteed to the company. Limited companies may be limited by shares or by guarantee. In a company limited by shares, the li ...

(Republic (Retail) Ltd.) and, in 2005, Change Capital invested in the company to finance expansion plans. In May 2011 the company was bought by

private equity In the field of finance, the term private equity (PE) refers to investment funds, usually limited partnerships (LP), which buy and restructure financially weak companies that produce goods and provide services. A private-equity fund is both a t ...

firm

TPG Capital TPG Inc., previously known as Texas Pacific Group and TPG Capital, is an American investment company based in Fort Worth, Texas. The private equity firm is focused on leveraged buyouts and growth capital. TPG manages investment funds in growth c ...

Administration and acquisition

Republic filed for

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, admini ...

on 13 February 2013, with

Ernst & Young Ernst & Young Global Limited, trade name EY, is a multinational professional services partnership headquartered in London, England. EY is one of the largest professional services networks in the world. Along with Deloitte, KPMG and Pricewat ...

appointed administrators. 150 head office staff were immediately made redundant, leaving 2,500 jobs at risk. During the administration time, a total of 8 Republic stores closed, 5 in Scotland, with a further 2 closed in Northern Ireland and one in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. On 28 February 2013,

bought 114 Republic stores, the brand name, all remaining stock and own-brands including SoulCal, Crafted and Fabric from the administrators. The Republic head office was also purchased. Sports Direct attempted to negotiate a reduction in rent for a number of stores, but the proposal was rejected by its landlords for those stores:

Intu Intu Properties plc was a British real estate investment trust (REIT), largely focused on shopping centre management and development. Originally named Liberty International plc, it changed its name in May 2010 to Capital Shopping Centres Group p ...

and

Land Securities Land Securities Group plc is the largest commercial property development and investment company in the United Kingdom. The firm became a real estate investment trust (REIT) when REITs were introduced in the United Kingdom in January 2007. It is ...

. As a result, 20 stores were closed. The remaining Republic stores were subsequently merged with USC.

Position

The company was positioned in the mass sector of the

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 natura ...

market, and had a focus on young

fashion Fashion is a form of self-expression and autonomy at a particular period and place and in a specific context, of clothing, footwear, lifestyle, accessories, makeup, hairstyle, and body posture. The term implies a look defined by the fash ...

. Lines were stocked from casual brands including Bench, Fenchurch,

G-Star Raw G-Star RAW (commonly called G-Star) is a Dutch designer clothing company, founded by Jos van Tilburg in Amsterdam in 1989. The brand specializes in making raw denim—an unwashed, untreated denim. G-Star is influenced by military clothing. Insp ...

American Apparel American Apparel Inc. is an online-only retailer and former brick-and-mortar stores operator based in Los Angeles, California. Founded by Canadian businessman Dov Charney in 1989, it was a vertically integrated company that ranked as one of the ...

Henleys Henleys was a men's and womenswear brand based in Manchester, United Kingdom. Company history Henleys was established in 1996 by Ben Luscombe, and Simon Peters became a partner in 2000. It is a private limited company (Henleys Clothing Lim ...

and Drunknmunky, as well as own brands SoulCal & Co, Miso, Crafted, Fabric, and ex-brand White Label. Before entering administration, Republic introduced a new own-branded line, @Republic, which transferred to USC.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom Defunct companies based in Leeds Retail companies established in 1985 Retail companies disestablished in 2013 1985 establishments in the United Kingdom 2013 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Companies that have entered administration in the United Kingdom Sports Direct