Bestseller (company)
Bestseller A/S is a privately held family-owned clothing and accessories company founded in Denmark in 1975. The company provides affordable fashion for men, women and children. They market their products in 70 markets across most of Europe, the Middle East, Canada, India and globally via E-commerce. They operate almost 9,000 shops worldwide, 6,000 in China and the rest mainly in Europe.
History
The company was founded in 1975 by Troels Holch Povlsen in Brande, Denmark. Originally its focus was on women's fashion. It introduced children's clothing in 1986 and menswear in 1988. Bestseller is family-owned and the company employs around 17,000 people.A December 2023 report funded by the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats found Bestseller's China-based supplier had connections to forced Uyghur labor.
Brands
Bestseller has a number of different brands under which it sells its clothing. The brands are listed below and are sold both in the company's own stores and through independent retailers.Women's clothing
- ONLY – Bestseller's largest brand, young female fashion
- Vero Moda – The company's basic brand of women's clothing. In 2007, the company hired the supermodel Gisele Bündchen to promote the brand in 2007–08.
- Mamalicious – maternity wear
- VILA – for younger women
- SELECTED Femme – sister brand to Selected Homme
- Junarose – plus size
- Y.A.S
- Topshop
- Noisy May
- PIECES
- Object
- Jacqueline de Yong
- produkt
- JJXX – Bestseller's newest, young female brand
Menswear
- Jack & Jones – brand targeted at younger customers, with underwear and other garments.
- Selected Homme – contemporary menswear label, including tailored suits and shirts
- Outfitters Nation – targeted at teenagers, later changed to LMTD.
- Only & Sons
- ''Topman''
Children's clothing
- Name It – clothes for babies and children.
Other
- Normal – variety store chain.
Retail stores
Stakes in other retailers
Bestseller, via its parent holding company Heartland, is the largest shareholder at 29.5% of British e-commerce firm ASOS.com, and owns 10% of German retailer Zalando. In July 2018, Heartland invested $300m in German fashion startup About You.In November 2012, Bestseller bought 10% of SmartGuy Group, when they became quoted on the Danish stock exchange Nasdaq OMX.
Bestseller Tower
Bestseller Tower was a planned high-rise building in Brande, a rural town in Denmark. The proposed 320-metre skyscraper would house the headquarters of fashion company Bestseller and was announced in 2017 with a design by Dorte Mandrup. The tower was scheduled to be completed in 2023 and would have been the tallest building in Western Europe. In 2020 the project was shelved by the company.Criticism
Supply chains
In June 2017, the Danish independent media and research center DanWatch documented in collaboration with The Guardian, what have been called "slave-like conditions" at Cambodian garment factories supplying Bestseller. Lack of breaks, temperatures of up to 37 degrees in the work halls, insufficient ventilation systems, and strict rules regarding water and food intake led to workers fainting from exhaustion. According to the reports, female garment workers often worked overtime under inhumane conditions and for below Cambodian living wages.Bestseller's Head of Communications stated in connection with a fire at a factory in February 2017 that Bestseller fundamentally stands by the supply chain transparency efforts they undertake at Cambodian garment factories. Reportedly, workers had to resume clothing production during the incident, even before the fire was extinguished and the smoke had cleared. Doctors, labor experts, NGOs, unions, and the women themselves attributed the ensuing mass fainting to heat, overwork, hunger, thirst, sheer exhaustion, and panic.
A 2022 briefing of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, highlights allegations of union-busting and related abuse at factories who supply, or have recently supplied, Bestseller.