Hotter Shoes owner confirms plans to expand into fashion after upcoming AIM relisting
Hotter Shoes parent company Electra Private Equity has confirmed plans to expand the brand beyond footwear and enter the clothing market, as well as rename the company to Unbound Group.
Electra shareholders approved the relisting on AIM at a General Meeting held on 30 December 2021.
Unbound will be led by Ian Watson who is currently chief executive officer of Hotter Shoes and will become chief executive officer of Unbound Group on the Company’s admission to AIM.
Unbound said it will build on the solid foundation of its current main business, Hotter Shoes, to grow value through its curated multi-brand retail platform supporting the active lifestyles of the 55 plus age demographic with a range of products and services. Unbound’s expanded offering beyond footwear is expected to feature apparel, wellness and lifestyle products and services, with third-party complementary brands featuring alongside new Unbound brands, as well as Hotter.
Whilst continuing to develop Hotter’s footwear offering for all consumers in its targeted age demographic, Unbound intends to leverage the highly attractive customer database and scalable digital infrastructure of Hotter to support sales on the new Unbound platform of its own and third-party brands and products with related customer benefits to the same target demographic. This development of the curated platform will be through working with similarly focused partners to provide a range of products and services that support the wellbeing and active lifestyles of Hotter’s customer community.
Ian Watson, Hotter chief executive officer, Unbound chief executive designate, commented: “The creation of Unbound, and its admission to AIM, will be a significant milestone and we are excited about the opportunities ahead.
“We continue to gather excellent momentum with our new Unbound partnership strategy, and we are in early discussions with a number of potential partners.
“Hotter has continued to deliver strong growth during November and December, with revenues being +9% compared with the previous year and gross margin continuing to perform positively at 65.5%. This robust performance despite supply chain cost and availability issues, coupled with the negative impact of Omicron suppressing high street demand in the latter weeks of December is encouraging.
“With our unique focus on our 55 plus customer base, underpinned by the strength of the Hotter brand and cultural and demographic tailwinds, we believe there is a significant growth opportunity for Unbound, and we look forward to creating long-term value for our existing and new shareholders.”
