Kent & Curwen owner facing £18m debt

By

Barbara Santamaria

Published
Oct 14, 2019

Trinity Brands UK Ltd, the company behind David Beckham’s Kent & Curwen brand and the e-commerce business of French designer Cerruti, is £18m in debt.

The firm, ultimately owned by China’s Shandong Ruyi since 2018, is understood to have amassed millions of pounds of debt over the past three years.

According to British newspaper The Sun, the losses have forced the company to slash staff numbers by nearly a third, reducing salary costs by half to £1.8m.

Kent & Curwen is promoted by David Beckham, who became the face of the brand and a source of inspiration through an exclusive five-year agreement signed in 2015. Although the former football player doesn’t actually design the brand’s collections, he is thought to be personally involved in all aspects including product development, market expansion, advertising and store design.

In 2017 the English heritage brand opened a flagship store in Covent Garden, and 2018 was the first full year of trading of its online store, which contributed £845k to the total turnover for the year.  

Earlier this year, Kent & Curwen presented a collaboration with hit TV series Peaky Blinders at an event in London attended by David Beckham, his wife Victoria and son Brooklyn.