The company was £500,000 in debt and was about to go into administration. In 2001, Low Profile Group acquired Hawes & Curtis for £1. The company's factories are based in Turkey, Bulgaria, and Georgia. In 1984, Suleyman acquired a small cash-and-carry business which subsequently became Low Profile Group, a clothing manufacturer supplying UK retail stores including Marks & Spencer. Suleyman was now stuck with debt and sold his house to repay money he owed to the bank. The collapse of Bamber Stores now forced Suleyman to find a way to raise money or see Mellins collapse too but he was unable to find investors. A board meeting was held the following Monday where Suleyman resigned, the company's shares were suspended, and receivers Cork Gully were called in. He was later persuaded by Laing & Cruickshank that Mellins should buy a stake in retailer Bamber Stores "because it offered synergy-we make it and we sell it." After Suleyman asked accountants Coopers & Lybrand to do a review, they discovered that the business had falsified their records and was £20–26 million in deficits. In the early 1980s, after being advised by a stockbroker, Suleyman took a 29.9% stake in clothing business Mellins. Suleyman went in to a partnership with the manufacturer operating out of a factory in East London before going on to form Kingsland Models which supplied clothing to the likes of C&A, Dorothy Perkins and Top Shop. He describes this incident as his introduction to the fashion business. He purchased more which she then sold on his behalf for about a year. While doing an audit for a clothing company, Suleyman took home some crimplene garments for his grandmother who later told him that her friends wanted the same. You were either a pop star, in the fashion business, or in property." I saw that there were three ways to make money. In a way it was educational, but quite boring. Speaking of his experience there he states "I did the accounts for small clients like dentists and doctors, other accountants and small businesses. He worked as an articled clerk earning £5.50 a week. Career Īfter leaving school, Suleyman joined a chartered accountancy firm in Southampton Row, London, heeding to his father's wishes that he enter a secure profession. He credits his father for being his inspiration to start his own business. Suleyman helped out working at his family's restaurant in Camberwell. At age 10, he suffered a serious hand infection that resulted in him missing a year of school and at risk of an amputation of his left hand. He arrived not speaking English and attended Peckham Manor secondary school. In 1958, he moved to England with his family and settled in Bermondsey, South London. Suleyman was born in Famagusta on 4 August 1953, into a Turkish Cypriot family. In 2015, The Sunday Times listed Suleyman as 637th in its Rich List, estimating his fortune to be in excess of £200 million. Since 2015 he has been a dragon on Dragon's Den. Since then, he has invested in a number of start-up companies including Bikesoup and Huxley & Cox. In 2001, his company Low Profile Group purchased UK shirt maker Hawes & Curtis, and in 2002 he purchased UK fashion label Ghost. Touker Suleyman (born Türker Süleyman 4 August 1953) is a British- Turkish Cypriot fashion retail entrepreneur, investor, and reality television personality.
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