Partner Article

Jermyn Street Design Celebrates Management Buyout as Founder Hands Reins to Female Led Team

London based bespoke uniform design, production, and management company, Jermyn Street Design (JSD), who recently celebrated achieving its B Corp certification, has just announced another huge milestone  - a management buyout of the business - as MD, Ann Dowdeswell looks forward to further expansion, innovation and growth over the next few years.

The long-established senior management, led by Dowdeswell, have completed the buy-out of the multimillion-pound custom uniforms and ethical workwear clothing business, with support from private equity partners Connection Capital, one of the largest investment companies in London. 

Dowdeswell has been a part of the business for the last 14 years, having been Managing Director for two years, before which she was Commercial Director and Sales and Marketing Director. She has grown the business by 25% year on year, breaking the £10m turnover mark in 2023. 

Riding high on a record year of strong annual performance, Dowdeswell, 54, will now take full control of the business, taking over from Founder Susanne Malim, who established the business in 1981.

With a team of 38, Ann works with world leading brands in 80+ countries across transport, retail, travel, hospitality and service and utility sectors, trusted by leading global brands such as Jet2, Dufry, First Group, Laing O’Rourke, Pure Gym, Lancôme, Three Mobile and Nuffield Health.

Providing uniforms with both people and planet in mind has always been the focus, since Malim launched Body Shop’s first eco uniform with Dame Anita Roddick back in the 90’s. 

Malim started the business with £100 from her small Kensington flat before moving into premises at Jermyn Street Design, and she quickly became globally recognised, designing uniforms for the likes of Chanel and Dior over the years. A respected figure in her industry, she has received 2 Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Textile Industry Awards.

Coming from a modelling background, Susanne’s understanding of the wearability of clothes has hugely impacted the direction of the business, focusing on the individual’s experience. “After years of modelling I understood in a very real and personal way the visual language of representing different brands, but I also understand what it was like to work in clothes that quite frankly weren’t designed for work - or even real body shapes!”

“This drove my ambition to start JSD in 1981 to create workwear going far beyond fashion to promote not just brands, but the wellbeing of the individual wearers. We achieved this by creating exciting designs, innovative patterns and developing fabrics more suitable for each role.”

Susanne said: “I’m delighted that Ann is the one taking JSD forward. Ann has worked closely with me for over 14 years, and I have total confidence in her ability to enhance and protect the JSD culture and core values. I am excited to watch and celebrate its further growth under the new ownership.”

JSD provides brand-building workwear for teams and colleagues, with a focus on individuality, inclusion and diversity. With an ethos ‘no-one is uniform’, putting the individual team member wearing the clothes at the forefront of the design process, JSD enables a unique “one size does not fit all” approach.

Ann said: ”I am incredibly excited about this new chapter in the JSD journey. As a leader in our sector, our passion and commitment to our clients has always been at the heart of everything we do. The strategic backing of Connection Capital provides a strong foundation for our future growth, enabling us to continue to drive innovation and deliver an enhanced offering.”

“This exciting next step brings numerous benefits to our valued clients and our team, ensuring that we can maintain and elevate the high standards of service and product solutions they have come to expect from JSD. Reinforcing our position as a trusted partner in the industry.”

Having always been passionate about fashion, Ann knew from an early age that she would pursue this as her career. Growing up in South Africa, she studied clothing design and manufacture.  She worked for the first 3 years of her career in clothing factories in Durban, implementing productivity improvement programs, before moving into merchandising and selling fashion ranges to high street retailers, before moving to work as Sales Director for the leading uniform company in South Africa. On moving to the UK, she worked for a further 10 years for a leading corporate clothing company, before she joined the management team of JSD. 

“My driving mission has always been to ensure that the JSD team are enabled to do their job to the best of their ability, to look after their wellbeing and ensure that we deliver on the commitments we have made to each and every client. We have a strong and very experienced team of like-minded people, we are not afraid of pushing the boundaries and doing things differently and I am very proud of each and every one of them. Our “niche” is award winning design, flexible and tailored approach to the service we offer each client and putting the wearer’s wellbeing at the heart of everything.  We realise that each client has their own unique set of needs, so we need to tailor our approach to each.”

JSD future plans include working towards further sustainability goals which include reducing its Scope 1 and 2 Greenhouse Gas emissions to Net-Zero by 2040, and Scope 3 emissions by 2050; producing a minimum 65% of garments using sustainable materials, methods and sources by the end of 2027; and to be able to offer traceability and end of life solutions for all products by the end of 2025.

James Greenwood, Investment Director at Connection Capital said: “From our first meeting, we have been extremely impressed by Jermyn Street Design. It is a great British business with a driven and experienced management team, demonstrating an attention to quality and service to its roster of blue-chip international customers.  We are excited to build on the company’s excellent reputation and market position and support management in buying out the Founder to deliver on the exciting growth opportunities ahead.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Chocolate PR .