Laura Ashley

Laura Ashley CBE, (born 7 September 1925 - died 17 September 1985) was a British designer.

Born Laura Mountney in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. She became a household name on the strength of her work as a designer and manufacturer of a range of colourful fabrics for clothes and home furnishings.

Career

Born Laura Mountney in Dowlais, Merthyr Tydfil, Laura was raised in a civil service family as a strict Baptist. Educated at Marshall’s School in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales until 1932, she was then sent to the Elmwood School, Croydon. She was evacuated to Wales, and after attending the Aberdare Secretarial School, she left school at 16. In World War II, she served in the Women's Royal Naval Service, and then from 1945 to 1952 as a secretary for the National Federation of Womens Institutes in London. She met engineer Bernard Albert Ashley, laterly Sir Bernard, at a youth club in Wallington, whom she married in 1949

While working as a secretary and raising her first two children, part time she designed napkins, table mats and tea-towels which Sir Bernard printed on a machine he had designed in an attic flat in Pimlico, London

They couple had invested £10 in wood for the screen frame, dyes and a few yards of linen. Laura's inspiration to start producing printed fabric came from a Women's Institute display of traditional handicrafts at the Victoria & Albert Museum. When Laura looked for small patches carrying Victorian designs to help her make patchworks, she found no such things existed. Here was an opportunity, and they started to print Head Scarves in 1953.

Catalyst

Audrey Hepburn inadvertently sparked the growth of one of the world's most successful fashion and home furnishing companies. Hepburn appeared alongside Gregory Peck in the 1953 film Roman Holiday, wearing a headscarf. As such a fashion icon, she instantly created a style that became an instant hit around the globe.

The Ashely's scarves were an instant success with stores, retailing both via Mail Order and high street chains such as John Lewis - Bernard left his city job to print fabrics full time. This put them on the road to becoming an international company with a brand that is recognised around the globe. Laura designed the prints and Bernard built the printing equipment, so forging a complementary partnership that was to give the company its unique strength throughout the years. Laura remained in charge of design until shortly before her death, while Bernard handled the operational side.

Employing staff to cope with the growth of sales, the company was originally registered as Ashley Mountney (Laura's maiden name), Sir Bernard changed the name to Laura Ashley because he felt a woman's name was more appropriate for the type of products.

Expansion

The newly formed company moved to Kent in 1955, but the business was nearly wiped out in 1958, when the river Darent overflowed - leaving equipment, dyes and fabrics floating in three feet of water. Turnover rose from £2,000 to £8,000 in 1960, and in light of the borth of the third of their four children, the family moved to Wales in 1961, the country where Laura was born and had spent much of her childhood. Originally located in the social club in Carno, Montgomeryshire; in 1967 the factory moved across to the village's railway station.

These were crucial times in the development of the company - Bernard had developed his flat-bed printing process to produce 5,000 metres of fabric per week, and in 1966 Laura produced her first dress for social rather than work attire. The long length silhouette become the Laura Ashley trademark. It also was to work successfully in the company's favour as fashion switched from the mini to the maxi skirt at the end of the 1960's - a newspaper suggested that by donning a Laura Ashley number, women could look as beautiful as Catherine Ross in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

By 1970, sales had reached £300,000 per year. The first shop under the Laura Ashley name opened in Pelham Street, South Kensington in 1968, with additional shops opened in Shrewsbury and Bath n 1970. In one week alone, London's Fulham Road shop sold 4,000 dresses - which resulted in the new factory in Newtown, Montgomeryshire. It was the opening of the Paris shop in 1974 which was the first to feature the distinctive green frontage and stripped wooden interior, and in the same year the first USA shop opened in San Francisco. A licensing operation led to the opening of department store concessions in Australia, Canada and Japan from 1971 onwards.

By 1975, turnover was £5million per year and the company employed 1,000 people worldwide. Laura turned down the offer of an OBE (she was upset Bernard had not been offered one) but a Queen's Award for Export was accepted in 1977. Turnover reached £25million as Laura Ashley celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1979 with the launch of a range of perfume. The addition of a home in France enabled Laura to go back to her roots of fabric design, and the company launched its home furnishings collections.

After Laura's death

2months after Laura's tragic death in 1985, Laura Ashley Holdings plc went public in a flotation that was 34 times oversubscribed. The 1980's saw the knighthood of Sir Bernard Ashley, and the launch of additional child and home furnishings ranges.

However, by the end of the 1980's Laura Ashley was distinctly out of fashion. Women were making inroads in the boardroom, and sharp suits and shoulder pads were at odds with everything Laura Ashley stood for. Sir Bernard's larger-than-life personality and idiosyncratic style of management meant that he fell out of favour with the City.

First of the new CEO's

In the early 1990s, Laura Ashley plc was suffering from a combination of over expansion of its retail outlets and dependence on what had become an overly complex and costly outsourced network of manufacturers. In 1991, American Dr Jim Maxim became the CEO at Laura Ashley, after pressure on the autocratic Sir Bernard. Married to business author Shoshana Zuboff, author of the book Smart Machine, published 1988, the couple had met at Harvard, and he later hired her as a consultant at Thorn EMI. His first child Chloe was born soon after, as was a son Jake in 1995. Over the next two and a half years, Dr. Maxmin led a series of changes, fixing problems in manufacturing and logistics that foreshadowed principles of Zuboff book The Support Economy. For example, he entered into a strategic alliance with Federal Express, forming a sort of proto-federation, aimed at improving distribution for close to 500 Laura Ashley stores. The alliance was established as a 10-year partnership, but it was relatively open-ended, premised on trust. The objective was to be able to supply 99 percent of Laura Ashley’s merchandise to customers anywhere in the world within 48 hours. The alliance replaced a legacy system that would route a T-shirt manufactured in Hong Kong to a warehouse in Newton, Wales, before sending it to a retail store in Japan. In 1992, Dr. Maxmin led Laura Ashley to its first gross profits since 1989, and in fiscal 1993, gross profits were expected to reach 12 million pounds. But in early April 1994, two weeks before his wife’s epiphany on national television, Dr. Maxmin abruptly resigned from Laura Ashley, citing major differences over strategy with Sir Bernard

Laura Ashley celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1993, the same year that Sir Bernard retired as chairman and became honorary life president. The Ashley family retain an interest in the business and it's development. The launch of a children's range and a furniture range helped deflect the looming crisis but by 1997, after a torrid few years and numerous chief executives, the company was in serious financial difficulties.

MUI Asia takeover

In May 1998, MUI Asia Limited became a major shareholder in Laura Ashley Holdings plc and under the new management, this world famous international brand was back in profit. Rescued from the receivers in 1998, 58 per cent of the shares are believed to be controlled directly or indirectly by the company's chairman Dr Koo Kay Peng

But the company failed to capitalise on its trademark look - probably due to employing its 11th chief executive in 14 years. It closed it's flagship store on London's Regent Street in late 2005 because of rent increases, and in March 2005 it launched a £28m law suit against L'Oreal, which manufactured the Laura Ashley perfumes. At Christmas 2004, the chain parted company with couture designer Alistair Blair, who had previously designed for Dior and Givenchy.

Ms Lillian Tan, who has been chief executive since January, plans to reduce fashion from 22 per cent of sales to 14 per cent this year - with stores cutting back the space they give to clothes in favour of home furnishings, now the most profitable part of the business.

Personal life

Laura and Sir Bernard (married 1949), were a great compliment to each other - both inside the business, and in their personal life. Laura had four children, and loved family life, but the expansion of the business meant the need for an escape point, and for creativity. They bought a house in France in the early 1970's, and kept in touch with the family and business through flying, with Sir Bernard's accomplished skills as a pilot.

The Ashley children were all roped into the business. David, the eldest son now in his early fifties, designed the shops; daughter Jane was the company photographer; another daughter Emma and their second son Nick were part of the company's fashion design team. Sir Bernard Ashley was the company chairman and Laura kept a close eye on fabrics. The astonishing success of what proved to be the ultimate cottage industry, bought the Ashleys a yacht, a private plane, a French chateau in Picardy, a town-house in Brussels, and the villa Contenta in Lyford Cay, New Providence, Bahamas currently up for sale at $8.5million

In 1985, on her 60th birthday, while she was visiting her children in the UK, Laura fell down the stairs and was rushed to hospital where she died ten days later. It was an appalling, senseless loss but her name lives on through her business. She is buried in the churchyard of St John the Baptist, in Carno, Powys, Wales

Foundation

The Laura Ashley Foundation was set up in 1986, in memory of Laura Ashley who had died a year before, by Sir Bernard to help individuals realise their potential and release talent. It is very much a family affair and the Ashley family are actively involved in the day to day running of the Foundation. It has a strong commitment to Art and Design, and to Wales.

External links

• Laura Ashley company
• National gallery portraits
• Funding Universe article on Laura Ashley plc