clothing apparel genre retail founded 1999 salcombe devon founder peter williams robert shaw headquarters london united kingdom number of locations 320 area served united kingdom ireland united states hong kong macau kuwait united arab emirates lebanon products clothing revenue 421 million 2014 15 1 net income 72.1 million 2014 15 1 number of employees 1 130 2009 1 website www.jackwills.com www.jackwillsoutlet.com jack wills is a british clothing brand . contents 1 history 2 stores 2.1 products 3 marketing 4 aubin & wills 4.1 the aubin gallery & cinema 5 jack wills outlet 6 references 7 external links history edit peter williams and robert shaw founded the brand in 1999 . 2 3 williams was 23 when the first store opened at 22 fore street salcombe and it was created with 40 000 the founders slept above the shop . 4 the brand was named after one of the co founders grandparents . 5 in an interview with the financial times williams said when i started thinking about a premium brand i dredged up this vision of what i remembered in salcombe . i thought what if i could create a brand that could bottle what being at a british university was all about and all the cool amazing stuff that goes with that it s such a uniquely cherished part of your life . i thought if you could create a brand that epitomised that it would be very compelling . 4 the brand was a success with a second store opened in fulham london in october the same year . the store was ram raided and was closed down but a new second store was opened in aldeburgh suffolk . as the business grew jack wills stores were opened in places with universities or private schools such as eton oxford winchester and st andrews . originally it was heavily marketed towards university students using the slogan and trademark university outfitters to reflect the inspiration behind the brand . 6 today the brand is partly owned by jack wills ltd a private limited company registered in the uk while a 27 % stake is held by the private equity firm inflexion after an investment deal in 2007 . 7 in 2011 the company was valued at 140 million of which co founders williams and shaw hold a 52 % stake 8 and 21 % stake respectively . in 2012 williams debuted on the sunday times rich list coming in at number 370 with an estimated worth of 200 million 326 million . 9 in may 2013 williams announced he was stepping aside as ceo to become a non executive director . former chief marketing officer of vodafone wendy becker was appointed as ceo soon afterwards . 10 in february 2014 it was announced that fashion designer richard nicoll was to become the new creative director of jack wills 11 to come into effect spring 2015 . as of 2015 williams was reinstated as working ceo on the board after the departure of becker . richard nicoll also parted ways with the company amicably in autumn 2015 . stores edit jack wills storefront since the first store opened in salcombe jack wills stores have opened across the united kingdom and internationally . there are currently as of september 2016 approx . 70 stores in the uk including 8 in london 4 in scotland edinburgh st andrews aberdeen and glasgow two in wales abersoch and cardiff two in the channel islands st peter port and st helier and one in northern ireland belfast . there are also five outlet stores across the uk ; gunwharf quays in portsmouth bicester halifax cheshire oaks and kilver court in shepton mallet . the most recent store to open in the uk is in chelmsford . products edit jack wills products are branded with the signature logo of a pheasant with a top hat and walking stick . the company publishes handbooks which are released four times a year for each new season . the handbook is a signature print catalogue for the brand showcasing the campaign shoots alongside editorial work and products available for the new season . jack wills clothing ranges from traditional british formal wear and tailoring such as shirts tweed jacket sand blazers to more contemporary casual clothing hooded tops sweatpants t shirts and polo shirts . they also release premium products every season as part of their fabulously british collection which are all made or woven in mills and factories across the uk . marketing edit the brand s ranges are given a private school and preppy branding 12 as the jack wills pricing strategy means the clothes may not be considered affordable to everyone . jack wills feature sports oriented collegiate branding for example apparel relating to polo rugby and also rowing such as the j.w.r.c jack wills rowing club . jack wills university outfitters title reflects its target market university students . however the label is popular in both secondary schools and colleges . the brand does not use a conventional advertising model instead relying on word of mouth viral marketing . 13 this is often stimulated by the events they hold such as the jack wills varsity polo jw unsigned and jw seasonnaires . in april 2011 the asa upheld complaints about the jack wills 2011 spring term handbook . the handbook contained some controversial images of young adults in a state of undress . in their ruling the asa said that we concluded that the catalogue was sufficiently provocative as to present a risk to younger teenagers . 14 aubin & wills edit aubin & wills was launched by jack wills in september 2008 as a sister brand aimed at customers aged 25 and up . its slogan was modern british design inspired by the past living in the present in november 2012 jack wills announced the decision to terminate the aubin and wills brand in order to concentrate on the global growth of the principal brand with all trading ceasing by january 2013 . 15 the aubin gallery & cinema edit on 20 may 2010 the aubin gallery 16 was launched situated on the top floor of the shoreditch store in collaboration with british artist and curator stuart semple . under semple s directorship the gallery s primary focus has been to provide a platform for a new generation of international artists and curators . it has also expanded to include off site projects for example with miriam elia s exhibition i fell in love with a conceptual artist at the nave church international exhibition initiatives and a publishing arm . since 2010 the program has showcased the works of tom ormond piers secunda the girls alana lake alex bunn sarah maple adham faramawy james howard nero and yasam sasmazer amongst others . the 7 500 sq ft 700 m2 . concept space also includes the aubin cinema which is run in collaboration with the members club shoreditch house and is a new social hot spot in east london s redchurch street . 17 jack wills outlet edit jack wills outlet logo at the end of 2009 jack wills launched a new website jack wills outlet . the outlet store acts as a medium for a limited number of the jack wills community to purchase last seasons clothes at a discounted price normally the end of sale price or less up to 75 % off . access to jack wills outlet is strictly by invitation only ; membership is obtained by submitting a regular jack wills account to the waiting list on the outlet website and waiting for an invitation . membership is reviewed every three months and jack wills revokes access privileges to those who have not activated their membership or who have not made a purchase during that period . this is so that the privilege of the jw outlet is restricted to the most valued members of the jack wills community . 18 references edit a b c jack wills financial review 2007 2010 pdf . retail knowledge bank . retrieved april 28 2010 . vernon polly 9 may 2010 . jack wills the sloane ranger rides again . the observer . retrieved 19 september 2014 . bergin olivia march 31 2010 . jack wills to open flagship store in covent garden . the daily telegraph . london . retrieved may 5 2010 . a b kuchler hannah 31 may 2010 . business diary peter williams jack wills . financial times . retrieved 19 september 2014 . fast track 100 63 jack wills . fast track in assoc with sunday times . retrieved 19 september 2014 . jack wills jobs . retrieved 12 may 2010 . inflextion portfolio jack wills . http www.therichest.com celebnetworth celebrity business celebrity fashion peter williams net worth http www.wwd.com fashion news fashion scoops britains rich pageant 5881576 http www.retail week.com people jack wills appoints wendy becker as its chief executive 5053838 . article http www.vogue.co.uk news 2014 02 19 richard nicoll named jack wills creative director ashworth anne july 27 2007 . sloane summer essentials . the times . london . retrieved may 5 2010 . 1 archived april 10 2011 at the wayback machine . campaign mag website . retrieved 21 november 2011 . bergin olivia 23 october 2012 . victoria s secret news . the daily telegraph . london . aubin gallery official website . the aubin gallery . first thursdays time out . retrieved 20 may 2010 . jack wills outlet homepage . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to jack wills . jack wills website jack wills outlet website aubin & wills website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title jack wills & oldid 741964281 categories british brandsclothing retailers of the united kingdomclothing brands of the united kingdomclothing companies of the united kingdomhidden categories articles with wayback machine linkspages using infobox company with unsupported parameterscommons category with local link same as on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages edit links this page was last modified on 30 september 2016 at 20 03 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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