Philip Day

Philip is married to Debra Day, and they live in Dubai, UAE. Philip and Debra have three children.

He has been a director of a number of other organisations including Carlisle F.C., the local football club where he used to live. He has supported Carlisle F.C. financially for more than 10 years and Edinburgh Woollen Mill is the team’s main shirt sponsor.

Though not a big football fan, he believes that sport plays a hugely important role in community life, and it is important for the city that it has a successful football team. For many years he has also supported local sporting events that encourage children to take up sports such as rugby, badminton, athletics and football.

Philip Day was born in October 1965. He grew up on a social housing council estate in Greater Manchester.

Not much is known about his background, but what is clear is that he had a very humble upbringing.

He was originally inspired to go into business because he saw that his parents and his friends’ parents found it difficult to find jobs. He saw business as a way to provide people with opportunities and employment.

As a teenager, Philip held down a number of part-time jobs while at school, including running a newsagent’s and doing several newspaper delivery rounds per day.

The drive to work meant that his academic studies suffered, and he turned down a place at university to pursue a career in business instead.

In 2001, Philip Day joined Edinburgh Woollen Mill (EWM), where he led a buyout of the company backed by Rutland Fund Management, a private equity firm.

He surprised the fashion world a year later when he bought out Rutland with the support of HBOS through a £69 million bid. At that time he saw a lot of potential in the brand, which had struggled on the high street because of the lack of a strategy and underinvestment. He immediately focussed on the turnaround on the business, becoming famous for his hands-on approach and going out to visit stores himself.

Philip saw the need to invest in the Edinburgh Woollen Mill stores and in training the staff. He turned the company around and it was back to profitability within a few years, after which he turned to new acquisitions as a way to drive growth.

In 2008, Philip bought Ponden Mill, a home furnishings company, and soft textiles company Rosebys, which were both operational at the time. The stores were later rebranded ‘Ponden Home’ across the UK.

EWM acquired Scottish golfing brand ProQuip in 2009 for £750,000 and brought back the company to profitability a year later, with a turnover of between £2 million-£2.5 million.

Philip has built Edinburgh Woollen Mill into one of the most successful fashion brands on the high street by investing in the company, and acquiring and turning around other brands, such as Jaeger, Jane Norman, Peacocks, and Austin Reed.

Founding UK department store, Days, bringing all of these brands under one roof, has bucked the trend of companies deserting the UK high street.