Bernard Ashley (businessman) - Laura Ashley Plc

Laura Ashley Plc

After World War II, engineer Bernard Ashley met Welsh secretary Laura Mountney at a youth club in Wallington, London. While working as a secretary and raising her first two children, part time she designed napkins, table mats, tea-towels which Bernard printed on a machine he had designed in an attic flat in Pimlico, London The couple had invested £10 in wood for the screen frame, dyes and a few yards of linen.

From 1953, Bernard left his city job and the couple began to expand the company. This put themselves on the road to becoming an international company with a brand that is recognised around the globe. Laura designed the prints and Bernard built the printing equipment, so forging a complementary partnership that was to give the company its unique strength throughout the years. Laura remained in charge of design until shortly before her death, while Bernard handled the operational side.

Employing staff to cope with the growth of sales, the company was originally registered as Ashley Mountney (Laura's maiden name), but Bernard changed the name to Laura Ashley because he felt a woman's name was more appropriate for the type of products.

The newly formed company moved to Kent in 1955, but the business was nearly wiped out in 1958, when the River Darent overflowed — leaving equipment, dyes and fabrics floating in three feet of water. Turnover rose from £2,000 to £8,000 in 1960, and in light of the birth of the third of their four children, the family moved to Wales in 1961. Originally located in the social club in Carno, Montgomeryshire, in 1967 the factory moved across to the village's railway station.

These were crucial times in the development of the company — Bernard had developed his flat-bed printing process to produce 5,000metres of fabric per week, and in 1966 Laura produced her first dress for social rather than work attire. By 1970, sales had reached £300,000 per year, and in one week alone, London's Fulham Road shop sold 4,000 dresses — which resulted in the new factory in Newtown, Montgomeryshire. It was the opening of the Paris shop in 1974 which was the first to feature the distinctive green frontage and stripped wooden interior; and, in the same year, the first USA shop opened in San Francisco. A licensing operation led to the opening of department store concessions in Australia, Canada and Japan from 1971 onwards. By 1975, turnover was £5million per year and the company employed a thousand people worldwide. Laura turned down the offer of an OBE (she was upset Bernard had not been offered one) but a Queen's Award for Export was accepted in 1977.

Two months after Laura's death in 1985, Laura Ashley Holdings plc went public in a flotation that was 34 times oversubscribed. Bernard Ashley was knighted in 1987.

However, by the end of the 1980s Laura Ashley was distinctly out of fashion. Women were making inroads in the boardroom, and sharp suits and shoulder pads were at odds with everything Laura Ashley stood for. Sir Bernard's larger-than-life personality and idiosyncratic style of management meant that he fell out of favour with the City. The first of a new group of CEO's was employed, in Dr Jim Maxim, who rationalised the production and distribution system — that until then, replaced a legacy system that would route, for example, a T-shirt manufactured in Hong Kong to a warehouse in Newtown, Wales, before sending it to a retail store in Japan. In 1992, Dr Maxmin led Laura Ashley to its first gross profits since 1989, and in fiscal 1993, gross profits were expected to reach 12 million pounds. But in early April 1994, Dr Maxmin abruptly resigned from Laura Ashley, citing major differences over strategy with Sir Bernard.

Laura Ashley celebrated its 40th anniversary in 1993, the same year that Sir Bernard retired as chairman and became honorary life president.