Joules, the decades old, quintessentially British country fashion brand was recently bought out of administration by a group of investors including founder Tom Joule and high street retailer Next.

Following rescuing the brand from the fiscal precipice, the new owners have made the decision to reinvent the company as ‘The Harborough Hare Limited’ with this new business operating the website.

This leaves the company open to either remaining as ‘Joules’ or reinventing itself as ‘The Harborough Hare’, something I think is highly ill advised.

Although the new name is logical as it combines the town in which Joules was founded (Market Harborough) with its logo (a hare), I think it is a highly risky move to rebrand the entire company.

Joules went into administration because of their dire financial situation, being bought out from that doesn’t change anything, so why have they embarked on a rebrand that will cost them a considerable amount of money to change the signs in their 110 stores and on any promotional materials?

Additionally, the vast majority of products sold by Joules have their name on in some form either embroidered, pressed into leather or attached with a sticker onto the products. This presents another problem because Joules have positioned themselves as a ‘premium’ brand therefore covering up logos is likely to have a negative impact. What will happen to their stock? Will it mean they lose even more money?

The final issue associated with the change of branding is the typical customer for Joules. Originally, they served the upper class elite of the country set (see Kate Middleton) but in recent years expanded to appeal to the mass market with their offering – thus increasing revenues.

Rebranding as ‘The Harborough Hare Ltd’ implies a more premium, niche product meaning they may lose customers who dislike or don’t align themselves with the new brand.

Joules also had a high level of brand awareness in the markets they operated in and some people may be unaware of the company’s previous identity meaning they may lose more sales (I will caveat that with that all customers on the mailing list were informed, but that’s not everyone).

In my opinion, Joules’ rebrand is a terrible idea and it will more than likely have negative implications for the business who will probably be less strong in this phase of their operations so sticking with their current branding is the best option (and what will probably happen).

Do comment your thoughts below.