Ted Baker Extends into Mobiles and Kidswear

Ted Baker, the fashion group, will put its brand on mobile phones and launch a childrenswear collection in Debenhams. This marks a shift in the group’s focus from the wholesale market—where sales fell 4.1 percent—to retail and licensing agreements.

The company said the fall in wholesale revenue was partly due to difficulties faced by some of its customers and it would be reviewing those that were ”no longer appropriate for our brand.”

CEO Ray Kelvin said he had “thought long and hard” about the potential danger to the brand of signing a partnership deal with Debenhams, the mid-market department store chain. “We didn’t feel it would affect the [core] of the business,” he says.

He added that another agreement to brand two phones at Carphone Warehouse was also in line with careful expansion plans. “Armani has one coming out and Prada has had one,” he says. “We’re not going to stick our name on absolutely everything.”