Item 2018.146 - Harrods Velvet Smoking Jacket

Charles Henry Harrod (1799–1885) began his career as a draper in 1824, but it was not until 1849 that the Harrod’s business relocated to London’s Knightsbridge. Harrod’s son, Charles Digby Harrod (1841– 1905) grew the business into a thriving retail operation and, by 1881, Harrods had acquired adjacent buildings and employed a hundred people. In 1889 Charles Harrod sold his interest in the store for
£120,000 via a stock market floatation. The new company was called Harrods Stores Ltd. In 1959, House of Fraser, a British department store holding company, acquired Harrods. In an attempt to appeal to a younger customer accustomed to shopping in unisex boutiques on Carnaby Street and the King’s Road, Harrods opened Way In on the fourth floor in 1967. It was redesigned and renamed the Fashion Lab department in 2013. The menswear department is currently situated in the basement of the store. In 1985, the Fayed brothers acquired House of Fraser for £615 million, which included Harrods. In 1994 Harrods was moved out of the House of Fraser Group and remained in the Fayed family’s ownership, while House of Fraser was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In May 2010, Harrods was sold to Qatar Holdings, the Qatari state’s sovereign wealth fund.
Source: The Independent.