Joules, the quintessentially British country fashion retailer founded in 1989 has been bought out on administration by founder Tom Joule and fashion retailer Next.

The deal will result in changes for Joules with the closure of 19 stores and the loss of 113 jobs across the business while the ownership structure will change with Next taking a 71% stake and Joule owing 29% of the company that bears his name.

The company is famous for bright yellow wellies and floral patterns adorning its clothes and homeware products that the middle classes bought in their droves however as trends changed, their popularity was waning.

In 2021, Joules turned a profit after a prolonged spell of losing money as its sales reached £200 million pounds yet after that things started to go downhill somewhat.

In August 2020, as the Coronavirus pandemic was wreaking havoc on the business world Joules reported a loss of £2 million compared to a £12.9 million profit the previous year. They hoped that in the coming months they’d be able to turn it around and recover however a year later their troubles returned.

In late 2021, a series of supply chain issues plagued Joules and they warned the world about a fall in their profits despite rising sales due to an increase in customers.

To combat this, they decided to rise prices in early 2022. A good idea in theory to maintain their profits in response to rising costs but in a cost of living crisis there was only one way this was going to turn out.

In a year where bills are spiralling for everyone and every penny counts for most, spending £30 on a scarf isn’t something many will do and the inevitable began to happen.

In the following months, the chief executive stepped down, they brought in KPMG to try and improve their financial position, Next tried to buy 25% of Joules (and then decided against it) and finally they declare that this year they will make a loss.

This string of bad events culminated in an announcement a few weeks ago that Joules had appointed administrators in an attempt to try and salvage what is left of the prestigious brand.

Today, it was announced that Joules had been rescued from administration with a deal involving Next and Tom Joule.

These were not the only interested parties however the deal from Next and Joule was deemed the most favourable and was completed in order to salvage the company’s financial future.

Do comment your thoughts below.