Cath Kidston Ltd was founded in 1993 when designer Cath Kidston opened a tiny shop in London’s Holland Park. She began by selling the vintage fabrics, wallpapers and brightly-painted junk furniture she remembered fondly from her childhood. Her clever, witty re-working of traditional English country house style meant that her shop soon became a cult success.
Gradually Cath began to design her own prints and products. One of the first was a printed ironing board cover – practical, quirky and with a distinctive floral print, it has come to epitomize the Cath Kidston look. The product base has expanded steadily to include an extensive range of homewares as well as women’s fashion and accessories and the 2008 launch of the Cath Kids brand. Various ranges are manufactured under license by companies including Churchill China and Fulton Umbrellas. Cath’s aim has always been to create well-priced, good quality products that are fun, practical and original.
Over the years Cath’s high-profile collaborations have included creating tents with Milletts (2005-6), Nokia mobile phones with Carphone Warehouse (2006) and collectible radios with Roberts (2005 onwards). In 2008 she collaborated with Tesco to produce printed eco shopping bags made from plastic bottles which were sold to raise funds for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Sales of the bags generated almost £500,000 for the charity and saved about six million plastic bottles from landfill. In 2011 Cath Kidston designed a range of clothing for Uniqlo. Selling over 800,000 t shirts and dresses, the collection is funding a safe motherhood initiative in Zambia run by the charity JOICFP. Cath has also published seven books, most recently Patch! with Quadrille in November 2011, a follow up to the hugely successful Stitch! in 2010, Sew! in 2009 and 2008’s Make!
Currently there are forty-seven Cath Kidston shops and concessions in the UK, two shops in the Republic of Ireland, nineteen in Japan, six in Korea, two in Thailand and one in Taiwan. In October 2009 the company opened its first airport shop at London Heathrow’s Terminal 4. The most recent shop openings include Reading in the UK last December, with both new Thailand stores and the first store in Taiwan opening at the end of 2011. The business is also driven by very successful web, mail order and wholesale divisions, with a new Euro transactional website launched during June 2011 to support the existing UK and US sites.
Cath Kidston Ltd is one of the most influential and original design companies to emerge from the UK in recent years and has expanded steadily to become the unique international lifestyle brand it is today. Global private equity firm TA Associates recently acquired a majority stake in the company to support the business in its future growth. TA Associates is one of the oldest and largest private equity firms in the world and invests across a range of industry sectors including the consumer sector.
Cath Kidston remains Creative Director of Cath Kidston Limited and was awarded an MBE for services to business in February 2010 as part of the Queen’s New Year Honours List.
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