Another brand Troy London closes down as they succumb to the Kate effect

[00:00:01]So the other girl strikes again. So there is a brand called Troy London and Troy London closure is adding to a pattern that I think deserves to be examined honestly alongside um the positive coverage that the papers tried to give the other girl.

[00:00:26]So Troy London was a Norfolk uh a Norfolkbased um brand that was founded by Rosie Van Kutsum and her sister Luchia Rock Keane.

[00:00:40]Again, I probably butchered the names, but to be honest, I really do not care.

[00:00:44]I know they belong to the same circle, the Norfolk crowd. um the ones that um the other girl was desperate to freeze the fragrant flower out of.

[00:00:58]And we know that Rosie is married to William Van Kutsum who is a godfather to the other brother's child. And we know that this person is the childhood friend of the other brother and their brand made uh wax parkers, fair ale sweaters and country clothing. And the other girl wore their pieces repeatedly on royal tours and on farm visits. So the association was genuine and well documented. What is now documented is the fact that the brand has now closed.

[00:01:42]And it brings to mind the fact that people say that Harry and Megan are nothing without their titles. But surely the person with the better title, the person with direct access to the royal family still the person who the pe who the world tell us she's going to be queen. She's going to be queen as a kind of gotcha over Megan. Surely this person should be selling out any brand that she touches. So literally there should be an effect where the website crashes.

[00:02:25]Um there's an 800% increase in sales in like a day. Stock sells out. Uh what else? Oh, maybe delivers a 51.6 million media impact value when she goes on tour. Oh, wait a minute. It's not the other girl. I'm describing what happens when Megan wears a brand. So I want to be very careful when I talk about this particular business closure or any other business closure because if like me you've run a business you will know that businesses closed for many reasons. So sometimes you can have supply chain issues, you can have changing consumer demand i.e. people are not buying your product. You can have financial pressures. Trust me, that is real. Or it could actually be a personal decision. Maybe they didn't have the time to run it the way it should be run.

[00:03:24]Maybe they couldn't sell it. Whatever.

[00:03:27]But these things happen. So Troy London's closure does not automatically mean that the other girl caused it.

[00:03:38]However, we do know that the relationship between celebrity endorsement and commercial sustainability is very complex. So, what am I trying to say? What I'm trying to say is that well, all I know is that brands that are associated with Megan are thriving. That's all I can say from the pattern that I have personally observed. And this is a pattern that the brand owners themselves have come out to say happens.

[00:04:11]So Troy London is among a very significant number of small and medium-sized British businesses that have closed after being associated with the other girl. The number reported by many followers is around 12 or more.

[00:04:34]And some of those closures have been directly linked by the brands themselves as challenges created of suddenly having to manage a spike in demand. So they're not prepared basically for whatever effect that the other girl brings to their brand. And I remember even um Karen G, the Australian brand that Megan wore the dress on day one, her website crashed in 2018. So she thought to herself, you know what? I'm going to prepare for 2026 and I'm going to be ready. And again, her website crashed.

[00:05:17]So sometimes these things happen where there's a massive demand surge. But Karen G, she prepared by having a waiting list. So you want the dress, go, you know, pay for it, do a pre-order and go on the waiting list or whatever. So she was prepared. But the bottom line is uh they keep telling us that the other girl, she's this, she's that, she's the other, she's got the title, she's going to be this, she's going to be that. And yet we are seeing the opposite effect.

[00:05:46]We are seeing her charities clothes. We are seeing brands associated with her clothes and nobody in the press has done a deep dive as to why that might be. You know why? Because they want to keep on believing that she produces the same effect as Megan when clearly she produces a polar opposite effect. And also let's look at her fans. her fans are too busy being in Megan's business than actively buying from the brands that she frequents and that is a fact.

[00:06:22]Also, her fans, as the press themselves said, they tend to be older. So, older people like me with not a lot of money and also not a lot of um I would say figure again like me, we don't have the figure to be wearing the clothes that she wears. So again, I'm not saying that's the reason why, but it's reason enough.

[00:06:47]So at the end of the day, I think there is a specific and genuine risk of highprofile royal association for small businesses. And this is an area that nobody has really examined because there's a demand surge when the future queen wears the product. And that can be overwhelming for a very small operation because it's a catch 22. So the future queen wears your outfit or whatever or shoes or whatever and there's a demand surge, but not every demand, you know what, not every interest leads to people actually buying stuff. So you're weighing your options. you're saying, should I stock up?

[00:07:37]You know, spend a lot of money stocking up and making sure that as soon as people see the um item on this person, they can buy it or should I wait and see if there's an actual demand, but by then if people go on the website and they don't find the item, they might go elsewhere. So it's a risk you need to constantly weigh if you are a business owner supply chain. Yes, you need to you know do I waste my money and have inventory and what if I can't shift it? So these are things you you think about. So managing the supply chain response, the stock levels, the customer service demands and the PR attention simultaneously as a small business is completely impossible because your small business is not at a particular scale. So you then need to think to yourself, okay, do I bring in extra people? You know, what do I do to prepare? And these are real issues. So maybe this is why some of the brands closed down. Again, I do not know. I'm just speculating as a business person. And remember, I wrote a book about it called the Lux Prreneur.

[00:08:57]Because when you are operating a luxury business at that level and you're a one-man band, it is hard. It is difficult. So if you then contrast this with the brands that are associated with Megan during her Australian tour, Roller Jeans 800% sales spike. Karen G sold out and then she used the moment to expand and multiple brands also reported sustained interest beyond the initial spike.

[00:09:33]So for them to spike and then have a sustained level of interest, it's incredible. And that is the Megan effect. And we know that even Megan's platform one off that drew about 1.1 million views in 3 days.

[00:09:51]So brand associations that generate commercial interest, they exist. Some people generate commercial interest, some people don't.

[00:10:03]So, I don't know. Um, again, another speculation that I thought was that maybe the difference is also structural because maybe Megan associates with brands that have the infrastructure to manage demand. Maybe the other girl doesn't. I don't know. But all I know is that Troy London, they did make beautiful British clothes and they were wellmade and they were nicely priced.

[00:10:35]And unfortunately, they have closed down. And that must be sad for everybody involved. Um cuz I know how much it hurts as a business when you just have to say, you know what, this is not working and I just have to let go of my baby. So yeah, whatever they choose to do in the future, wish them the best and all that. And uh yeah, at the end of the day, I don't know if the other girl effect is a positive or not, but yeah, good luck to the brands associated with her. It looks like they're going to need it. But anyway, let me know what you think in the comments, please. My name is Elizabeth. I'm the author of the Lux Prer. And for more insights like these, please like, share, comment, and don't forget to hit the subscribe button. And to support my work, you can buy me a coffee at buy me a coffeeop.com/elizabetharu.

[00:11:27]Or you can get a copy of my book, The Lots Prreneur, from Amazon, Water St. or bands and noble.