JD Williams History

The (heavily-edited) JD Williams story begins in 1859 - Manchester entrepreneur James David Williams first starts work running three mobile shops. In 1875, he founds his own company – imaginatively titled JD Williams. In 1882, he finds a way of getting his wares into the eager hands of his customers more quickly - by becoming the first person to patronise the Post Office’s new Parcel Post service.

Many of the names now associated with our company have a long history too - Northallerton drapers Oxendales first advertise their clothing in the press in 1902; while Ambrose Wilson’s “Magnet Belt” – an invention claimed to promote the health of gentlemen who wore it – is first strapped on in 1907.

In 1921, the JD Williams business becomes a private company. Forty successful years later, all of the JDW family shares are sold to a subsidiary of the Alliance Brothers. (The Alliance heritage continues to this day, with two Alliance Brothers on the board of our parent company – the N Brown Group.)

Over the three years from 1969 to 1972, we buy several businesses, including corset kings Ambrose Wilson, and the ever-expanding Oxendales. In 1990 we launch two catalogue titles to capture the 30-45 age range; Fashion World and Candid. Our target market until then had always been ladies over the age of around 50, but this first bashful overture to the younger lady would later prove to be especially prudent.

In the early ’90s, the business is on something of a roll – in 1994, we launch another “young title” – Classic Combination –as a direct result of a huge survey into the shape of the modern woman. A year later, we buy menswear business Sander and Kay, and in ’96, Sartor, adding ladies over 60 to our growing range of customers we love to serve.

1999 sees us launch what was to become a gem in our crown – Simply Be, providing a range of very fashionable clothing in larger sizes for younger women. The year – and the millennium - finish on a high, with the launch of Zendor – an end-to-end fulfilment service which allows other companies to ‘borrow’ our warehousing and fulfilment expertise.