Seemingly it has, as Mulberry issued a profit warning today, stating that the luxury brand had suffered a great deal over the Christmas period due to rival brands starting their sales much earlier. Despite many others doing so, Mulberry did not alter its sales date from December 26 and has taken the fall for it.
A Reuters poll had previously forecasted pre-tax profits for the year ending March 31 at £26.9 million, however Mulberry’s chief executive Bruno Guillon has now said that this will only be around £19 million.
In the last few years, the Somerset based accessories house has seen a great deal of change, not least the rise and rise of the It bags and its profits under the direction of Emma Hill, who was with the brand for six years. However, since the departure of Hill in 2013, Mulberry has been resting on its name and with new collection pieces costing up to £2,000, the brand may be feeling the strain from turning British heritage design into a global luxury brand.
Mulberry has held its luxury image by aligning its name with key players of the fashion industry. Alexa Chung and Lana del Ray carry their namesake bags, Cara Delevingne graces the images of their Tim Walker shot S/S14 campaign and their front row is famous for being strewn with hand picked stars each season. However, after pulling out of this year’s London Fashion Week, due to the continuing search for a new creative director, the brand may need to work a little harder to retain the image that it has built.
Bruno Guillon has said that they have a shortlist of potential candidates and hopes to name Emma Hill’s replacement in the next couple of months. Until then we can only continue to guess who it will be and hope that the prices may go down.
