Joseph

The Joseph brand grew from a small shop attached to a hairdressing salon in King's Road, Chelsea, owned by Casablanca-born Joseph Ettedgui and his brothers Maurice and Franklin, to more than 20 London stores, with eight additional outlets in New York City and Paris plus stores in Leeds and Manchester.

Joseph Ettedgui's love of fashion meant the brothers began displaying designer clothes in their hair salon in the 1960s, including the work of pioneering Japanese designer Kenzo Takada. The success of this early collaboration led to a move into fashion retailing, with the first store opening below the Chelsea hair salon in the early 1970s and the first large-scale retail outlet opening on Sloane Street in 1979.

In 1999 the Ettedgui brothers sold a majority share of the business to Belgian financier Albert Frère, and a minority interest to LVMH.

In 2000, Frère took over the shares of Besoussan, who had briefly assumed the role of CEO at Joseph, and thus held 72% of the company. In the meantime, the Joseph boutiques ran alongside their own line, among other things. Designers like Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano or Diane von Fürstenberg.

In 2004 there were 63 Joseph boutiques worldwide.

In May 2005 the company was sold to the Japanese fashion group Onward Kashiyama, long-time license partner of Joseph in Asia, for approximately 140 million pounds. Ettedgui and his brother Franklin received an additional £20 million in the deal for the sale of their remaining shares. The two left the company at the end of 2005. In 2008 sales were almost EUR 82 million.