City Chic Adds UK Brand Evans to its Growing Portfolio

City Chic has acquired the Evans brand, e-commerce and wholesale business for $41 million in cash. Evans is a women’s plus-size retailer that is based out of the UK, previously owned by Arcadia Group, which filed for administration in late 2020.

The British retailer, which was established in 1930, has been followed by Phil Rya, CEO and Managing Director of City Chic for ‘over a decade’, and includes a longstanding customer base and a strong market position.

Furthermore, City Chic has worked in partnership with the Evans brand, providing a natural progression as Arcadia Group continues its administration process.

“I have followed Evans for over a decade and seen how within Arcadia’s portfolio, the brand has evolved from a dominant high street retailer into a more digitally focused business,” explained Phil Ryan.

“We had a successful partnership with Evans for many years which was a great channel for the City Chic brand in the UK. Evans gives us an excellent foundation in a new geography to grow our collective and is a brand which aligns with our existing product streams,” he said.

In August 2020, Evans recorded £23 million in sales, with more than 19 million visits to its e-commerce platform and its wholesale business delivering £3 million in sales. Prior to COVID-19, the Evans brand, both in-store, online and franchise, recorded more than £60 million in annual sales.

City Chic will acquire the Evans brand and its intellectual property, customer base and inventory. This represents the key assets of its e-commerce and wholesale business.

City Chic’s plan for Evans includes a continued transition for its e-commerce platforms, with the exclusion of its bricks and mortar stores across the UK, and its franchise business, which is primarily based in the Middle East.

“The acquisition meets our strategic objective of growing through global customer acquisition, digitally, and in the $50 billion curvy apparel market. In addition to providing a launching pad into a new market, we are confident we can deploy our lean, customer-centric operating model to drive revenue growth and cost efficiencies in the existing business,” Ryan continued.

“We have a great opportunity ahead of us to develop the third major region for the City Chic Collective,” he said.

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