“Mike Ashley, shame, shame, shame on you,” animal welfare protesters chanted outside the sportswear tycoon’s latest offering to the world of retail. The opening of Flannels’ four-storey emporium on Oxford Street was supposed to proclaim to the fashion world that Sports Direct could be trusted to sell luxury brands to discerning customers. However, it was far from smooth, as security shut down the London store in the face of a mob.
The shop, originally scheduled to open in June was “fashionably late”, according to Flannels’ Instagram. Exacting Italian architects were blamed for insisting on four types of flooring that required the building to be re-engineered to make it flat enough for clothes rails.
