The British fashion brand Evans has made a return to the UK high street after a six-year absence. The popular plus-size clothing retailer, which caters to sizes 14 to 32, closed all of its physical stores in 2020 when its parent company, Arcadia Group, fell into administration.
Background of the Brand
At its peak in the late 1990s and 2000s, Evans was a major presence on the high street with over 300 locations across the UK and internationally. When Arcadia Group collapsed in November 2020, the brand was sold to Australian retailer City Chic Collective a month later. Over 100 store locations were permanently closed at that time.
Following the administration, Evans continued to operate exclusively online. In 2023, City Chic Collective sold the brand to AK Retail for £8 million. AK Retail is the parent company of Yours Clothing and also owns Long Tall Sally and M&Co.
The Return to Physical Retail
After a six-year hiatus, Evans has now officially returned to physical retail. Instead of standalone stores, the plus-size brand is stocked as dedicated concessions inside over 50 Yours Clothing locations across the UK and Ireland. Out of those stores, 36 have been upgraded to feature full, dedicated, permanent Evans-branded sections.
Some of the locations include Liverpool, Swansea, Watford, Nottingham, Hempstead Valley, and Glasgow Braehead.
Spokesperson Comment
A spokesperson for Yours Clothing told Fashion Network: "Plus-size women are among the most loyal fashion shoppers in the UK. When a brand gets it right – when the fit works, the range is genuine, and the product reflects real women, they come back. Evans earned that loyalty over decades. And when the brand reduced its high street presence, its customers did not stop looking."
History of Evans
Founded in 1930 by manufacturer Jack Green, the brand originally launched as Evans Outsize. It was one of the very first high-street retailers in the UK to pioneer mass-market, fashionable womenswear purposefully designed for sizes 14 and above. After four decades of steady expansion as an independent business, Evans was acquired by the Burton Group, later known as the Arcadia Group, and transitioned into a public company.
