In December 2018, Ted Baker’s carefully cultivated image of eccentric British charm was shaken when a petition signed by approximately 300 current and former employees accused founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin of a workplace practice described as “forced hugging.” The allegations portrayed an environment in which physical contact from the company’s powerful founder was not necessarily welcomed and where employees felt pressured to accept it because of Kelvin’s authority. Kelvin initially took a leave of absence while the company responded to the accusations. On 4 March 2019, he resigned immediately, ending the founder’s direct control of the label he had built from a Glasgow shop in 1988 into an international retailer with hundreds of stores. The controversy damaged Ted Baker’s reputation at the same moment that its commercial position was deteriorating: the company issued a profit warning, wrote off £5 million in unsold clothing, and saw its share price fall sharply from its March 2018 peak of 3,214 pence. The episode became a defining example of how a founder’s supposedly informal, charismatic management style can become a liability when employees challenge the power imbalance behind it.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2010s
The Forced-Hugging Allegations That Drove Ted Baker Founder Ray Kelvin From Power
Ray Kelvin and Ted Baker / 2010s
In December 2018, Ted Baker’s carefully cultivated image of eccentric British charm was shaken when a petition signed by approximately 300 current and former employees accused founder and chief executive Ray Kelvin of a workplace practice described as “forced hugging.” The allegations portrayed an environment in which physical contact from the company’s powerful founder was not necessarily welcomed and where employees felt pressured to accept it because of Kelvin’s authority. Kelvin initially took a leave of absence while the company responded to the accusations. On 4 March 2019, he resigned immediately, ending the founder’s direct control of the label he had built from a Glasgow shop in 1988 into an international retailer with hundreds of stores. The controversy damaged Ted Baker’s reputation at the same moment that its commercial position was deteriorating: the company issued a profit warning, wrote off £5 million in unsold clothing, and saw its share price fall sharply from its March 2018 peak of 3,214 pence. The episode became a defining example of how a founder’s supposedly informal, charismatic management style can become a liability when employees challenge the power imbalance behind it.
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