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Topshop's potential closure will be bittersweet for millennial women

December 17, 2020
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Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
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Abi Blain

This month, the Arcadia Group, which owns Topshop and other much-loved high street chains, including Dorothy Perkins and Burton, announced it has gone into administration. The future of these stores is uncertain, and there is a real possibility that Topshop, once a fashion behemoth, may close its doors forever.

The first time I visited Topshop, I was 12-years-old, and my mum took me on a shopping trip that felt like the height of glamour and sophistication. We perused the shops at The Oracle shopping mall in Reading with the promise that I would be treated to an outfit of my choosing.

Topshop was the only destination befitting such an occasion. The store's clothes filled the pages of every magazine loved by pre-teen girls, the coolest of whom only sported Topshop. Signaling a coming of age, it was where I stopped buying clothes labeled age 12-13 and started sifting the rails marked size 6-18.

I selected a pair of dark denim bootcut jeans, the height of 2008 style, with loops for the skinny red leather belt I had already picked out from the accessories section. Topshop jeans have become somewhat iconic for a generation of young women who have built collections out of the wide range of washes, rises, and cuts. The style evolution from too-tight Joni jeans to the raw hem straight leg cut is one charted by all high-street fashion mavens.

Every trip to Topshop Oxford Circus felt like being unleashed in a theme park. On moving to London, it remained the first place I would visit after my birthday or Christmas, my pockets lined with gifted cash.

There was always something about Topshop's allure, whether it was the relatively inclusive sizing options, including a petite and tall range, or the accessible price points that meant, even if I had to scrimp and save, I would be able to afford whatever sequined mini dress I was lusting after. I was convinced I would never outgrow Topshop in the way I had other high street retailers and particularly the fast-fashion websites touting garish bralettes and co-ords (two-piece clothing sets) to those jetting off to Dubai or Ibiza for the summer.

Despite my enduring love for Topshop and its wares, my relationship with the chain has become increasingly complicated in recent years. In 2018, its controversial owner, Sir Philip Green, hit the headlines after allegedly demanding that a feminist display be removed in the flagship store. The pop-up was intended to celebrate the publication of Feminists Don't Wear Pink and Other Lies but was dismantled after just twenty minutes. Many believed Topshop's position as a leading women's retailer meant it had a duty to empower those it sells to. This decision was a crushing blow for loyal shoppers who felt the store no longer represented them.

Green has been at the centre of several sexual harassment and racial abuse claims in more staggering revelations, which he categorically denies.

READ: What it means to be Black in the fashion industry

What it means to be Black in the fashion industryconversations.indy100.com

Being Black is my identity, not a trend.

This is not Green's first brush with the administration. In 2015, he sold another of his ventures, BHS, for just £1 as it began to hemorrhage money. This left thousands unemployed, with Green offering no support. Much the same looks likely to happen if the rest of the Arcadia Group collapses as predicted.

Famed for his short temper and lavish lifestyle, Green has, in recent years, become the embodiment of an unacceptable form of capitalism. One that disregards those at the bottom who prop up the entire structure, in favour of protecting the very few at the top.

While Topshop was once the go-to destination for millennial women, I believe that it has failed to move with modern times and make the online power plays that competitors, such as ASOS, have mastered. In an increasingly self-aware culture, Sir Philip Green's unwillingness to respect his staff and support social movements have established him as a figure of disgust for many in his target audience.

If Topshop is to close, it is sure to be a bittersweet moment for women up and down the UK who will take a moment to mourn the loss and consider their own memories of the chain. However, the real casualties will be the over 10,000 employees who are left jobless. More positively, Topshop's closure could mark a major moment of change in the UK fashion industry. It will demonstrate that consumers will not support brands that are unable to meet their needs.

In a world where we are more conscientious than ever, it is right that we demand higher standards from those who helm the business.

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Can tech help female entrepreneurs break the bias?

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Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.