Yet another major UK retailer has joined a long list of Christmas success stories. Step forward Crew Clothing, reporting a host of double-digit gains across weeks 51-52 of the important trading period.

It also said the business is “well-positioned for further success in 2025”.

Let’s start with total business sales that increased an impressive 45% compared to the previous year “testament to the strength of the brand’s multichannel approach”, which includes e-commerce, retail stores, and third-party sales partnerships, it announced.

Within this, digital demand leapt 70%, “reflecting the growing shift to online shopping”. Meanwhile, store estate net sales rose by a very strong 22%, “showcasing the continued importance of brick-and-mortar locations”. Third-party channel sales also grew by 34%, driven by partnerships with retailers such as M&S (launched in 2021) and John Lewis (launched in 2023).

As for the wider Q4 period, results showed “consistent momentum” with total like for like sales up 17%. The company also reported a record-breaking Black Friday period, with total business sales growing 23% from the peak trading period of Black Friday through to the end of December.

The gains were backed by Crew Clothing’s strong physical expansion strategy that saw the opening of 15 new stores in 2024 and marked the return of the brand to London with the arrival of its Crew Clothing Paddington flagship, maintaining the brand as “a long-standing champion of the British High Street [that] continues to invest in its retail portfolio”.

And the retailer intends to better that 2024 tally in 2025, with “at least” 20 stores planned. Stores in Kendal and Keswick are confirmed alongside “a number of exciting new refits”, it said.
 
Crew also highlighted the success of “surging engagement with its customer base [being] further reinforced via its impressive sponsorship programme”. 

It said: “As proud supporters of British sport”, the programme includes a number of the UK’s major sporting institutions including, England Red Roses, Henley Royal Regatta, and the Lawn Tennis Association.