The Sweater Shop was a

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, England, based clothing company with many national outlets.

History

The Sweater Shop Ltd was established by Margaret Wood on 20 March 1973 in Barwell, Leicestershire. The company was sold on 28 April 1995 to a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

for £150m.

Closure

In May 1998 the company went into

receivership In law, receivership is a situation in which an institution or enterprise is held by a receiver – a person "placed in the custodial responsibility for the property of others, including tangible and intangible assets and rights" – especia ...

. At the time of closure it had 78 retail outlets. As of 2020, Sweater Shop (no 'The') is a separate company trading under the same brand name.

The Future

In early 2025, Margaret Wood's son, Tádhg, said that he was looking at bringing the brand to a new audience as he owns the trademark "The Sweater Shop". It is not yet known how he plans to do this.

Structure

It was headquartered in Syston in the

Borough of Charnwood Charnwood is a local government district with borough status in the north of Leicestershire, England. It is named after Charnwood Forest, much of which lies within the borough. Towns in the borough include Loughborough (where the council is ...

. It made its own products in factories in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

and Shepshed. It had a factory in Scotland in Cumnock,

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire (; ) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Roa ...

that opened in 1992. On 24 November 1992

Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William, ...

officially opened the Scottish factory.

In Popular Culture

The

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

television series Derry Girls featured a number of Sweater Shop jumpers, all of which were originals and are now on display at the Derry Girls Exhibition in Derry-Londonderry,

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

References

{{Reflist 1973 establishments in the United Kingdom 1998 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Borough of Charnwood Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom Companies based in Leicestershire Clothing companies established in 1973 Companies disestablished in 1998 Cumnock Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom