George Davies (retailer)

In September 2017, Davies made a £5.15 million donation to the University of Leicester and hospitals associated with it. This was the university's largest ever philanthropic gift from an individual, with the money largely supporting research into vascular limb disease. The university renamed its Centre for Medicine to the George Davies Centre in honour of this donation in November of that year, with Sir David Attenborough officially opening the building.

GIVe was effectively closed for any further trading in early 2011 and the holding company that was its parent company, "Sporter Ltd" was put into receivership in September 2011.

Davies was found guilty of drink driving in June 2011 following a 5-mile police chase in May 2010.

In 2009, Davies launched his 4th brand (called GIVe) which saw 26 stores opening in selected towns and cities in the UK along with an e-commerce retailing.

On 13 June 2009 George Davies told the Financial Times that he was to launch his fourth fashion business under the name of GIVe as in George 1V – his fourth large fashion venture. The small "e" represents the e-commerce (internet element) of the company. The company has also been named GIVe because it is Davies' intention to donate part of the profits to charitable causes – he was quoted in the Sunday Times as expecting this figure to be up to 10% of the company's profits.

In a recent article in the Sunday Telegraph, the architect of Davies' sacking from Next, Sir David Jones, was cited as one of the motivations behind the decision to launch the current brand, GIVe. Davies said that it was an informal conversation over a drink with Jones in early 2009 that convinced him to launch GIVe when he was seriously considering whether it was a risk worth taking or not.

GIVe opened its doors in 25 towns and cities across the UK in October 2009 and, according to the FT, provides Italian-inspired, high quality women's fashion clothing at affordable prices. The move (in a recession) is typical of Davies who spots a niche, observes what the competition are doing and then does the opposite. In a June 2009 independent poll conducted by Drapers Online, 100% of the voters agreed that the new venture would be another success story for Davies.

In July 2009, Drapers reported that Davies was in advanced discussions with House of Fraser and Dutch retail group Maxeda to take GIVe to a new dimension in terms of store coverage from spring 2010. It was suggested that the potential high-profile partnerships demonstrated the "serial brand maker's" commitment to creating a fourth "mega brand" to shake up the fashion sector – Davies had been openly critical of the UK's homogeneous high street in 2008.

In August 2009, Retail Week revealed the locations for GIVe's first stores. Under the headline "Fashion legend George Davies has secured a raft of shopping centre deals for his new venture Give", the magazine correctly confirmed GIVe's first chosen store sites. In addition to Regent Street, Bluewater and Meadowhall stores, GIVe is opening in Liverpool, Cribbs Causeway, Kingston, Glasgow and Harrogate in October and November. Sixteen independent retailers (including 10 Beales shops) across the UK entered into joint venture agreements with GIVe to carry the range in a large concession-style deal which also opened in October 2009.

In the run-up to the brand's launch Davies agreed an exclusive deal with women's fashion magazine Grazia. Describing the brand GIVe "as the most exciting story to come out of retail this year" and "from what we've seen it's set to be a major new fixture on the British high street", Miller said that she and her Editor-in-Chief, Jane Bruton, had been given a preview of the new range which Davies kept very firmly under wraps prior to the brand's launch in October 2009.

Speaking to the Financial Times in December 2009, Davies discussed his intentions of taking the GIVe brand overseas. It had been widely reported that he was in discussions with several different groups in India and the Middle East and was considering launching the brand outside of the UK in the second quarter of 2010.

Sir Stuart Rose saw through the acquisition of the Per Una brand and Davies stayed on with the company until 2008, which also saw the launch of his GD 25 range celebrating Davies' 25 anniversary in the fashion industry. According to many newspaper articles between 2005 and 2008, the relationship that Davies enjoyed with Rose was not as cordial as the one with his predecessors, Holmes and Vandevelde. However, in a recent article in the business section of The Guardian, it appeared the relationship was back on an even-keel. Davies stated: "Stuart and I talk. We have a lot in common on a personal level and in truth, I couldn't do what he does and he probably couldn't do what I do."

On Davies' departure from Per Una in December 2008, Rose commented in the Daily Telegraph that "I'll eat my hat if he wants to go and launch another business."

In 2008, it was reported that he had built a 7-hole golf course in his back garden.

In 2007, he told The Times: "During the Whitsun holidays in Manchester, children dressed up in white and took part in the Whit Walks. Sales of white ankle socks went up by 200 dozen in the area and I had only sent 10. The manager of the store was soon on the phone shouting about what some stupid person had done. I had to drive to the supplier in Leicestershire and deliver the socks myself. It saved my job. Without that I don't think I would be here now. It taught me that in retailing every store is different."

The Financial Times reported that it was Per Una that put Davies in the super-rich league (he sold the 5-year-old business to Marks & Spencer in 2004 for £125 million) as part of the retailer's efforts to block a potential takeover by entrepreneur Sir Philip Green.

Dubbed as a "serial brand creator", the "King of the High Street" and "the leading fashion visionary" he was awarded the Drapers Record Life Time Achievement award in 2003 and the "Designer of the Decade" by Prima in 2004.

By 2002, Wal-Mart had rolled out George Clothing across the USA, and presently has annual global sales of £2bn. In October 2009, the BBC reported that George @ Asda brand had officially become the UK's biggest selling clothing retailer, taking over from Marks & Spencer, with a 10% UK market share.

“It (Per Una) was absolutely fundamental in the resurgence of the core appeal of womenswear," said Roger Holmes, the former chief executive of M&S who signed Davies up in 2001 to bring the Per Una range to Marks. "Put in the context of the value it created from saving the company as a whole, it was creating billions of profits for shareholders." Did it save the company? "Yes, I don't think that overstates the case."

In 2000, Asda was bought by the world's largest retailer, Wal-Mart of the United States. With the resultant resignation of the UK board, Davies also resigned his direct association. At the time of the takeover, the George brand was turning over £600M.

As one of the top three recognised brands in the UK, Marks & Spencer had a traditionally strong selling women's clothing line. But in 2000 in light of developing fashion trends driven by distinct brands, needed to develop a new approach in their retail format.

A passionate supporter of Liverpool F.C. through his father (nowadays he is frequently seen watching from the directors' box) Davies had trials for the club during the reign of Bill Shankly but was unsuccessful (in 1995 he told The Independent that as things as turned out, it was probably for the best). However, he did go on to play centre forward for Bangor City, and also represented England Universities and England Under 18s at football and scored twice against Scotland.

In 1995, Davies founded Sporter, a sporting aligned clothing manufacturer. It supplies branded merchandise for sports clubs including Liverpool F.C. and Arsenal F.C. as well as Newcastle United F.C. and Rangers F.C. Sporter today employs over 100 staff, with offices in the UK, India, Sri Lanka and Italy.

Approached by UK supermarket chain Asda to create a new range of clothing, in the 1990s Davies produced his second household-name brand, George at Asda. Davies was positive about the approach, the shift of consumer spending moved from high street to out of town accessible development. Asda CEO Archie Norman commented that Davies grasped the fact that the line had to be based on value, and be a distinct brand name on its own.

The pressures of ever-increasing growth and expansion demanded by the analysts in the city caused NEXT to go through turbulent times in 1988. Under new chairman Sir David Jones, Davies' expansion plans and diversification of the brand were cited as one of the causes for the share price dropping. In December 1988, Davies was sacked from Next by chairman Sir David Jones, who accused him of being egotistical and taking Next to the verge of bankruptcy.

In 1987, the group bought the Grattan catalogue company. Extending first to introduce NEXT childrenswear, he then introduced the NEXT Directory based around four key concepts:

Made Chief Executive in 1984, Davies then converted the 50 Hepworth's stores to the NEXT format, extending the total concept look at the same time to cover menswear. In 1985, NEXT interiors was added to stores which were deemed in the "right demographic areas." In 1986, Davies moved the group's headquarters from Leeds to Leicester, to be closer to the main garment manufacturers.

The first NEXT shops opened on 12 February 1982, with the Kendall's conversion complete by the end of 1983. Based around "the total concept look," it encouraged customers to mix and match within a style, resulting in customers having both trend and buying more. The average NEXT customer would buy five items, not just the one they had entered the shop originally to buy.

In 1981, the chairman of Leeds based men's retailer Hepworth's, Sir Terence Conran, approached Davies to join the retail chain and revamp the concept to better combine their new purchase, the 70 stores of Kendall & Sons Ltd.

Davies headed Next from its creation in the 1980s, before moving on to start the fashion label 'George at Asda' in the 1990s. Leaving Asda in 2000 following their acquisition by Walmart, he launched the Per Una fashion collection at Marks & Spencer.

In 1973, he was invited to join a fast-growing home-based fashion retailer called Pippa Dee which operated in a similar trading style to Tupperware, counting on a self-employed sales force of over thirteen thousand women to organise house party plan sales across the UK. Davies initially joined as Product and Design Director but very quickly became the driving force behind the sales operation. In a move that was to be reflected in his later business life, Davies left Pippa Dee amid a boardroom struggle and broken promises from other directors.

In 1972 Davies launched his first business – Schoolcare, a mail order company specialising in the supply of children's school uniforms. However Schoolcare experienced problems when their bank suffered financial difficulties. Whilst the demise of Schoolcare is no more than a tiny piece in the Davies business jigsaw, it is regarded as the birthplace of another Davies trademark legacy – the "total look concept".

George William Davies (born 29 October 1941) is an English fashion designer and retailer.

George William Davies was born in Crosby, Lancashire, on 29 October 1941 to sausage maker George Snr, and seamstress Mary Davies. Davies cites his mother as his motivation to succeed in life in fashion: