Famous fashion store moving into St Helen’s Square

One of the big names in fashion is set to move into York.

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill on St Helen’s Square would be turned into a Jaeger store, if it gets the go-ahead for its plans.

It would be rebranded, and the shop sign would be painted in Dulux ‘Pewter Plate’ grey, according to an application submitted to City of York Council.

“The proposed white and grey colours for the signage and the grey for the shopfront would not have a detrimental effect on the character of this heritage asset, or any adjacent or the conservation area,” the design statement says.

No new building works are planned as part of the changes.

All change for the brand

The Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM) group, owned by billionaire Philip Day, acquired the Jaeger brand in 2017 after it went into administration.

It also owns Austin Reed, Peacocks and Ponden Homes.

Last year EWM announced plans to open 50 department stores called Days after the owner. The first opened in a former BHS store in Carmarthen, selling all its fashion brands.

Jaeger has a long history. It was established as Dr Jaeger’s Sanitary Woollen System Co Ltd in 1884 “capitalising on a craze for wool-jersey long johns inspired by the theories of German scientist Dr Gustav Jaeger,” according to Wikipedia.

It became very popular in the Sixties during the British fashion revival, with its clothes modelled by Jean Shrimpton and others.

More recently it struggled to attract a younger audience.