Marks & Spencer is finalising a deal to buy upmarket fashion brand Jaeger as it seeks to bolster its clothing business with new names.
M&S has been linked to Jaeger since it fell into administration in November, as part of entrepreneur Philip Day’s stricken Edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, which also owns Peacocks and Austin Reed. Both M&S and Jaeger were founded in the 1880s.
Last year, M&S chief executive Steve Rowe announced plans to stock other brands to broaden the appeal of its clothing. It tried but failed to buy the lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret in the UK and last year started selling eco-fashion label Nobody’s Child .
M&S is expected to buy Jaeger’s brand and stock, but not its scores of shops, according to Sky News.
In its heyday, Jaeger dressed Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, but in recent years the brand has struggled. .
