New Look was founded by
Tom Singh in
Taunton,
Somerset, in 1969.
Belgium in 2006, and also having had a presence in
France, the
Netherlands,
Romania,
Malta,
Malaysia,
South Korea,
Singapore,
Thailand,
Indonesia,
United Arab Emirates,
China,
Germany,
Russia,
Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia,
Azerbaijan and
Poland, and having had a staff of over 18,000. The group had a turnover of £1,147 million in 2008 with profits of £180 million.In 2004, the company withdrew from the stock market and was taken back to being a privately owned business by founder Tom Singh and chief executive Phil Wrigley, and private equity investors
Permira,
Apax Partners and Quillian Investments. On 26 April 2007, a fire occurred at a New Look branch in
Oxford Street,
London. The subsequent investigation revealed an extensive catalogue of failings relating to fire safety precautions and measures. The company subsequently pleaded guilty to criminal charges and on 25 November 2009, was fined a total of £400,000 with £136,052 costs. In 2010, the fines were upheld by the Court of Appeal.,
Leeds in 2019.In 2008, New Look continued their expansion in the UK and opened their largest shop at the time in Liverpool One Shopping Centre. In February 2009, the company's fortieth anniversary year, New Look opened their first shop in
Russia. In July 2010, New Look opened its three-hundredth shop in
Glasgow Fort Shopping Park. The shop is . It was built on the site of a former
Borders unit. The largest New Look shop in the world opened in
Dublin,
Ireland on 4 November 2010, located at the
Jervis Shopping Centre. It was the twenty-ninth New Look shop in Ireland. Many of the outlets in Singapore have been closed, except CityLink Mall, City Square Mall and the latest opened shop,
Republic Polytechnic. CityLink Mall and City Square Mall was closed down in October 2019 before COVID-19 pandemic. In 2015, New Look was purchased by Brait SE; had 94 shops in China, and 852 globally. In June 2017, New Look launched their "My Life My Style My Look" campaign and made history when they announced British model
Georgie Aldous as their first ever male model in a full face of make-up. In 2018, New Look closed 60 shops in the United Kingdom and withdrew from international markets. In 2020, as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, New Look filed for
Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the United States. In February 2025, the
High Court of Ireland appointed provisional liquidators to New Look's Irish operations after substantial losses over the previous four years. On 20 February 2025, it was announced that New Look was to exit the Irish market. The company was criticised in late February 2025 for refusing to accept its own gift vouchers during its closing-down sale. ==References==