Topshop

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Topshop (own spelling: TOPSHOP) is a British women’s fashion brand that has been owned by online retailer Asos since the beginning of 2021. The brand emerged from the Peter Robinson fashion chain in the 1960s and established itself as a retail company in the Burton Group in the 1970s. Under the direction of Jane Shepherdson, Topshop developed into a successful retail chain with British fast fashion in the early 2000s. The brand was considered a pioneer in the UK, cooperated with famous models and operated stores worldwide. After financial difficulties, the parent company, now known as Arcadia Group, sold the Topshop brand to Asos at the beginning of 2021. The own branch network was completely abandoned.

History

Beginnings
The brand was introduced in 1964 as Peter Robinson’s Top Shop (German: “The Tolle Laden” by Peter Robinson). Raymond Montague Burton, then head of the women’s fashion chain Peter Robinson in the Burton Group, was responsible for a youthful fashion range offered at the Peter Robinson stores in Sheffield and at Oxford Circus in London. In the London branch, the entire basement was used for Top Shop a year later. A first independent shop under the name Top Shop was opened in 1974. By the end of the 70s, Top Shop had completely replaced Peter Robinson as a brand. In 1978, the Topman branch was introduced to meet the needs of male customers. The first Topman store opened in Leeds.

Further development in the 2000s
In the 80s, the retail chain, now under the name Topshop, developed little further. It was considered old-fashioned and cheap. Only when Jane Shepherdson managed the brand from the end of the 90s, Topshop became a highly profitable company again. Shepherdson had worked as a buyer for Topshop since 1985 and realigned the brand in a few months: with low prices and quickly changing designs, she was able to appeal to a broader target group. According to the Guardian, it has made Topshop the most important British fashion brand and revolutionized the clothing of the shopping streets (English high street). Chitra Buckley, a fashion researcher at the London College of Fashion, summarized that Topshop had developed a brand identity as its own brand during this time, which conjured up the British or London style with individuality, eclecticism and novelty. For example, Topshop worked with well-known British designers of the 1960s and 70s such as Celia Birtwell and Barbara Hulanicki. Topshop has also played an important role for young fashion designers, for example by sponsoring the British Fashion Council’s New Generation Award since 2001. With the decision to present its own collection (Topshop Unique) for the first time at London Fashion Week 2005,