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My Big Decision: George Davies on why launching GIVe was his toughest decision yet

Monday, February 22, 2010 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: My big decision, Business | Tags: entrepreneurs, retail, My Big Decision, Next, George, business leaders, GIVe, per una, George Davies

George Davies is big in women’s clothing – so to speak. He launched Next, George at Asda and per una at Marks & Spencer. But, says Britain’s ‘King of the High Street’ – the latest subject in Grant Thornton’s My Big Decision series – knowing what it takes to launch a brand just made his recent decision even tougher…

See George Davies’s My Big Decision.

George Davies, 68, is one of the Britain’s best-known fashion retailers. He grew up watching the women in his family cutting out dress patterns, became a buyer (of ankle socks) at Littlewoods and later went on to launch three of the biggest household brand names for fashion in the UK.

Last year, he cemented his reputation as a serial brand creator by risking £20m of his own money to launch project number four, GIVe – an ‘affordable luxury’ womenswear brand with style advisors and tailors on the shop floor to tweak and alter for a customised fit. Between 5% and 10% of the company’s profits will be given to charitable causes – hence the name.

With all his experience, however, the decision to launch and embark another ‘marathon’ has been George Davies’s biggest yet.

To find out why, watch George Davies’s life-changing moment by viewing the George Davies: My Big Decision podcast – or subscribe to Grant Thornton’s monthly series in iTunes.

Grant Thornton’s My Big Decision podcasts offer an illustrated series of short interviews with thought leaders and prominent business individuals about a critical moment that changed their lives forever.

Previous interviewees include:
• Cultural commentator Fons Trompenaars 
• Online theorist Chris Anderson
• Financial Times economist agony uncle, Tim Harford 
• Freakonomics author Stephen J Dubner.