In 2021, consumers were clearly more used to online shopping during lockdowns and confident about getting back to normal behaviour as vaccines eventually reduced the impact of the Covid virus.

The firm’s 2021 financial year actually ran from the end of January 2021 up to 29 January 2022. It saw total group sales of £256.6 million compared to £170.7 million in the previous year. 

Its profit before tax and exceptional items was up to £39.6 million from a loss of £3.8 million in the first year of pandemic. Meanwhile, profit before tax but after exceptional items was £34.4 million, again a swing from a loss of £13.6 million the year before.

International sales reached £81.8m, comprising more than 30% of total group sales and its omnichannel strategy is clearly paying off with its online share close to 50% of sales.

The company added that it addresses “well balanced demographics with an increasingly equal split between womenswear and menswear sales, [at] 57% and 43% respectively”. 

CEO Christos Angelides said: “Reiss delivered record sales and profits, despite the retail lockdown closures in the first 10 weeks of the [2021 financial] year. The business has continued to deliver strong growth in the first half of the current year, across both men’s and women’s divisions and we are confident that profits this year will exceed those achieved in 2021”. 

He added that the brand moving its e-tail ops to NextTotal