So how good was the five-week trading period to 1 January?

Total

Seasalt said its stores enjoyed a “record Christmas… with customers valuing the opportunity to experience the brand in person and interact with Seasalt’s fantastic store teams”. 

It noted its store base — predominantly in market towns and seaside resorts — didn’t suffer any drop in footfall such as that experienced in some city centre locations in the second half of December.

That helped push overall store revenues up 81% on the same period last year, and up 23% on 2019, figures that “demonstrate the resilience of the business”. 

Meanwhile, the online business also remained strong throughout the Christmas trading period, with digital sales continuing to “represent the majority of revenues, a trend that is expected to continue into 2022”, it also noted.

It said that “in the years ahead, Seasalt will grow its customer community in the UK through innovative marketing and continued excellence in product development”, which will include expanding its menswear range. 

And with a clear path to future growth, Seasalt is looking to “accelerate its expansion through new partnerships and access to external capital”, it added. 

CFO Malcolm Macdonald added: “The strong store performance over Christmas is a continuation of the theme we have seen since they reopened in April. We are very happy with the balance the business now enjoys from its complementary mix of a strong store portfolio and marketplace partners supporting the direct-to-consumer online retail channel, which represents 56% of total sales.

“We now look forward to our exciting plans to grow the business further over the next few years by acquiring more UK customers, expanding internationally and developing our menswear range.”