Marks & Spencer invest further in Nobody’s Child
Marks & Spencer has announced it has injected further funding into Nobody’s Child, as the eco-conscious fashion brand continues to go from strength to strength.
Nobody’s Child, founded in 2015 by Andrew Xeni, was the first guest brand to launch on M&S.com in 2020 and in 2021, recognising further opportunities from their shared brand values, M&S acquired a 27% stake in the brand.
In the past two years Nobody’s Child revenues more than quadrupled, via its own channels and third-party brand partners. The fresh funding from M&S comes at a pivotal trading period for Nobody’s Child as the brand expects continued growth this summer. The funds will facilitate stock buy to cover the increased demand from customers this season, as well as support the business to further expand in the future.
Nobody’s Child continues to operate as an independent business, but through the partnership, it has benefited from access to over 30 million engaged M&S customers, as well as investment to scale the business to new heights.
Famous for their beautiful floral print dresses, over the last year, Nobody’s Child has strategically evolved the brand to a lifestyle offering, launching new product categories including, separates, tailoring, denim and jersey. Most recently, the brand launched an elevated boutique collection and bridal capsule which will continue to be a mainstay within seasonal collections as consumers continue to align with responsible product at affordable price points.
Last year, the brand launched its first collaboration, Nobody’s Child x Happy Place by Fearne Cotton which has proven hugely successful and is now in its fourth collection.
Nobody’s Child continues to be one of M&S’s top performing third-party brand partners – shopped by over 340,000 customers each year. Earlier this year, M&S leveraged the competitive advantage of its store estate to welcome Nobody’s Child seasonal pop-up shops into 40 stores across the UK, featuring a 30-piece capsule collection of the brands bestselling products. Since opening in March, over 10,000 M&S customers have shopped Nobody’s Child in store and the increased store presence on the high street has boosted online search on M&S.com by +43%. This week, Nobody’s Child have also opened a standalone pop-up shop in London’s Covent Garden.
Last year, M&S supported Nobody’s Child to grow internationally, launching the brand in 93 markets on M&S.com. This year, the brand is set to continue to expand their presence in multiple markets including the US, Europe & UAE.
The partnership with Nobody’s Child forms part of M&S’ third-party brands strategy. Since launching in March 2020, the ‘Brands at M&S’ platform has continued to grow at pace and is now home to over 60 carefully curated third-party brand partners which complement and complete the core offer at M&S. As M&S repositions for growth as a leading omnichannel retailer, the Brands at M&S platform represents a £400m opportunity within Clothing & Home. In January this year, M&S reported brands sales were up by c50% year on year.
Richard Price, Managing Director of Clothing & Home at M&S commented: “This season, it seems that everyone is talking about Nobody’s Child. As an important part of the M&S family, we’re delighted to be able to support the brand with additional funding to unlock even more potential as they continue to grow. Our third-party brands are key to creating an M&S reshaped for growth and at the heart of this, is finding the right partners. As shown with Nobody’s Child, when we get these partnerships right, everyone wins.”
Jody Plows, CEO of Nobody’s Child commented: “Our partnership with M&S has gone from strength to strength, so I’m delighted that we have received additional funding to fuel our next stage of growth. This will enable us to broaden our product categories and build our customer base both in the UK and internationally. Nobody’s Child is an extremely ambitious brand and we continue to strive forward to offer responsible product that’s accessible and affordable for all women. We are incredibly excited for the future and are grateful to have M&S with us on this journey.”
