From bags to riches: the success of Radley handbags

This paper tells the success story of Radley handbags (2007). A brief history of the company is given; the company was acquired by a private equity firm, Phoenix Equity Partners, in 2006 for £42 million.

From bags to riches: the success of Radley handbags

Julian Calderara, Les Binet and Sarah Carter

At the end of 2007, Radley + Co, makers of distinctive handbags branded with a small Scottie dog, exchanged hands for £130m – only two years after it had been valued at £42m in its first private equity deal. Truly 'bags to riches'.

The advertising campaign was cited as a key contributor to this success. Fashion brands, until now, have been conspicuous by their absence from the IPA Effectiveness Awards. Fragmented markets, small media budgets and limited industry research data...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands