Jack Wills pays up after threat from supplier

A SUPPLIER to Jack Wills took the fashion chain to court last week over an unpaid bill.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that building materials firm Jewson brought in lawyers from JE Baring to serve its customer with a winding up order last Wednesday. Sources said the unpaid bill was settled on Friday.

Jack Wills, a brand which was popular with middle-class teenagers and university students, was forced to ask investors for new funds last year.

Meanwhile, the firm’s accounts are four months overdue at Companies House. A source said the company had agreed to a formal extension and the annual report for the year to January 31, 2018 is likely to be filed within weeks.

In its last filed accounts, for the year to January 2017, it reported losses of £955,000.

The popularity of Jack Wills has been waning as many of its former customers have been rejecting its bright, heavily branded clothing and instead opting for plainer outfits sold elsewhere.

The business is led by former Debenhams trading director Suzanne Harlow, who was brought in by private equity backers BlueGem last summer after Jack Wills founder Peter Williams was ousted amid concerns about the company’s financial performance.

The company was founded by Williams in Salcombe, Devon, in 1999. He first stood down from Jack Wills in 2013. In 2016, after rejoining, he teamed up with BlueGem to buy the firm from private equity firm Inflexion.