A Manchester-based online and catalogue fashion retailer, with roots going back to 1859, whose brands JD Williams, Simply Be and Jacamo focus on sizes and shoppers that other retailers can overlook.
N Brown Group is a Manchester fashion retailer that sells clothing, footwear and homeware, mostly online. Its brands are aimed at customers that it describes as underserved by the rest of the market. JD Williams, its oldest brand, is a modern online department store for women aged 45 to 60. Simply Be, launched in 1999, sells women's fashion in sizes 12 to 32 and is known for championing size inclusivity. Jacamo, launched in 2007, offers menswear in sizes from small to 5XL. The group also owns the underwear retailer Figleaves, bought in 2010.
The story starts in 1859, when James David Williams founded JD Williams in Manchester, beginning with three mobile shops. In 1882 he began using the new UK parcel post to send goods directly to customers, which is an early form of what we now call home shopping. The business later sold through catalogues, and the group took its current name, N Brown Group plc, in 1986. In 2018 it closed its remaining shops and became a fully online business, and in 2025 it became privately owned by the Alliance family. We did not find a formal mission statement in the sources we read, so we have not invented one.
N Brown's operational head office is on Lever Street in Manchester's Northern Quarter, and the historic Langley Buildings on Dale Street, built in 1907, still stand nearby. Its warehousing and distribution are based in Oldham in Greater Manchester and Glossop in Derbyshire. We could not find a current headcount in the sources we read.
The company's values show up mostly in the customers it chooses to serve. Simply Be has been a vocal champion of size inclusivity and Jacamo has featured Freddie Flintoff as a brand ambassador. After the Manchester Arena bombing in 2017 the company donated £50,000 to the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. In 2014 it outsourced 550 contact-centre roles to another company, and in 2018 it closed its stores, so it has been through significant changes. Beyond what is written here, we have not seen first-hand accounts of working life.
Roles in a business like this include buyers and designers who choose and develop the ranges, merchandisers who plan stock, marketing and social media staff, data and e-commerce teams who run the websites, customer service staff, and warehouse and logistics workers in Oldham and Glossop. It is a good place to see how an online retailer manages stock, sizes and customer data, particularly if you are interested in fashion for a wide range of body shapes and ages.
Website: www.nbrown.co.uk
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