Laura Ashley

It started in 1953. Twenty-eight year-old Laura Ashley had just been to the handiworks exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum and she was feeling inspired. She’d seen a display of intricate patchworks and made up her mind to have a go at her own. Laura along with her husband Bernard, began printing at the kitchen table of their tiny flat. Orders grew quickly for the enterprising couple, selling great quantities to shops including John Lewis and Heal's. They first opened a shop in Machynlleth and Laura began their first forays into fashion.The single shop soon turned into two and the beginnings of a network. UK shops continued to flourish and further shops opened in Paris and San Francisco. By 1975 the company had grown faster than anyone could have predicted with over 40 shops and employing 1,000 worldwide. By the end of the 1970’s the company had expanded to over 70 Laura Ashley shops worldwide. In 1999, a management and investor team completed the buy-out of the 94 Laura Ashley stores in the United States and Canada from Laura Ashley Holdings, the publicly traded British parent company. As Laura Ashley Inc., the company expanded into licensing, which allowed for multiple channels of distribution.Today the brand can be found in over 23,000 retail doors throughout North America and in homes, wardrobes and hospitality venues around the world.