George Davies (retailer)

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George Davies (retailer) : biography

29 October 1941 –

Davies believes that many large high street retailers have failed to react quickly enough and embrace the power of the internet and its impact on the consumer, including the use of social network sites such as Facebook and Twitter to get the message of new product into the public domain. In an interview in Retail Week, Davies comments that "I’ve had to understand a lot of new things like Twitter, Facebook and blogging because that’s the route consumers have gone. I feel the high street has left itself open to the rise of that sort of medium."

Davies also revealed to the magazine that the new GIVe stores include in-store internet kiosks giving customers real-time stock information as well as video content of the store’s garments on a catwalk (the shopper will scan a bar code into the system and get instant video feedback of what the chosen garment looks like on the catwalk). In addition the same in-store system will allow shoppers to order home delivery.

In a September 2009 feature in The Mail On Sunday, the fashion and lifestyle journalist Liz Jones (a lady with a reputation for upsetting many of her readers with her strong and often outspoken views) wrote: "It (GIVe) is terribly old fashioned and incredibly high tech, all at the same time. What I like about George Davies is that he listens to what women want; if only the likes of Marc Jacobs would do the same. He asks my opinion on what the style advisers should wear on the shop floor. I tell him I’m tired of seeing young, beautiful women looking fabulous and intimidating in every shop. I tell him we want these women to be older, and to wear neat black uniforms with sensible shoes to give our shopping experience a retro and subservient air. ‘OK,’ he says, ‘you’re right. That’s what we’ll do!’" When the stores opened on 1 October 2009, the stylists were dressed entirely in black uniforms.

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.

In the Drapers Record Magazine "Top 100 Influential People" published in December 2009, George Davies became a new entry at number 9.

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.

Awards and honours

  • 1985 – The Guardian Young Businessman of Year 1985
  • 1987 – Wood Mackenzie Retailer of Year
  • 1987 – FRSA (Fellow Royal Society of Arts)
  • 1988 – Marketing Personality of Year
  • 1988 – Senior Fellow Royal College of Art
  • 1989 – Hon DBA Liverpool Polytechnic (now Liverpool John Moores University)
  • 1992 – Had his first son, George
  • 1993 – Had his second son, Barnaby
  • 1996 – Hon DDes Nottingham Trent University
  • 2002 – Hon DDes Middlesex University
  • 2003 – Doctor of Letters, Heriot-Watt University
  • 2003 – Drapers Record Lifetime Achievement Award
  • 2004
    • April – Honorary Fellowship of the Society of Dyers and Colourists
    • May – Forum Award from TextilWirtschaft Magazine
    • September – Blueprint Designer behind the Brand National Portrait Gallery
    • September – Prima Award ‘Designer of the Decade’
  • 2005 – Hon DCL Northumbria University
  • 2009 – Hon Doctor of the University: Birmingham University
  • 2010 – Designed a collection of casual clothing from Arsenal F.C. in the season 2010/2011