Whatever Happened To Men's Fashion Retailer 'take 6'?

[dance2trance]

I recollect that 'Take 6' was a major men's fashion shop chain in 1970s London. Sort of like 'Next' is today. It was all over the High Street. But it vanished. I can find nothing on Google except a vocal group called 'Take Six'. Has anybody any knowledge of what transpired? I also recollect as I type that there was another London shop called 'Cecil Gee' but that too vanished - although it is now reborn but under a different styling as if just the name had been bought. Thanks.

[Buenchico]

'Take 6' traded as a 'boutique' and, like so many firms that followed on from what started in Carnaby Street, it probably simply lost its market when 'boutiques' ceased to be fashionable.

Some reminders for you though:

Wardour Street, 1967:
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/7th-april-1967-a-customer-at-the-take-6-boutique-in-londons-wardour-picture-id3330058

. . . and again:
https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/7th-april-1967-customers-in-the-take-6-boutique-in-londons-wardour-picture-id3330059

East London, c1969:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/2d/d4/5a/2dd45a6de31b969542bf563ee2ce0ba6.jpg

Chelsea, 1960s:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/56/60/b3/5660b355ea66fbc48da456660700c112.jpg

[fender62]

is gap still trading ?

[Buenchico]

Cecil Gee was part of the Moss Bros group. In 2011 8 of the 9 stores trading under that name were sold to J D Sports and rebranded to 'Tessuti', with the remaining store (in Glasgow) remaining in the Moss Bros group and being rebranded as 'Moss'.

[Buenchico]

Gap has around 3,600 outlets worldwide, Fender62, including here in the UK (where they also trade online): https://www.gap.co.uk/

[dance2trance]

Amazingly cool info and there is a Cecil Gee in Brighton but still we are in the dark about what actually happened with Take 6. I might ask the V&A.

[Bazile]

What about *** - are they still going ?

[dance2trance]

I asked the V&A fashion department about 'Take 6' who said there was no information on the topic to hand and they possessed one item only of 'Take 6' clothing. They agreed with me it was a topic worth investigating.

[Bazile]

What was wrong with
F C U K ?

That was the letters emblazoned on the retailer's clothing

[Mamyalynne]

French Connection still around.

https://www.frenchconnection.com/

[dance2trance]

French Connection in the face of falling sales made themselves hip with the *** branding of items. Market research told them after a few years that Joe Public was fed up with the joke - so they withdrew it. They should get a prize for longevity. They are a stayer. I bought from them in 1978 and again last week.

[Easysteve1]

[Easysteve1]

Hi, I started work for Take 6 in 1977 as a window dresser/display artist/visual merchandiser in 1977 and remained with them until the started to close their shops. 2 of the owners sons bought two of the shops in the 80's and re-branded them as Sprint I continued to work for them as a buyer and visual merchandiser until my partner and I bought the shops in Covent Garden and Kings Road.

[Foreverchanges66]

I bought a white jacket at take 6 Wardour St in world cup week 1966. Just taken out of loft and had cleaned. Struggle with 36inch chest. Nearly took it back when I saw Paul or Barry Ryan buying stuff there next day.

[dance2trance]

Thank you Easysteve 1 this was extremely interesting answer and very helpful indeed. I will see if I can find the accounts for both companies. I asked the V&A fashion department and they too were flumoxed!

[Brooke]

Perhaps Easysteve1 knows what happened to Ivy Brent (Sid Brent’s [2nd?] wife). I think she and Sid sold the bulk of the Take 6 business. I believe she died a few years back......in Spain?

[Winner1]

My father was with Take 6 from the start. He started working with Sid Brent selling ties from a barrow in the markets of Romford and Hackney. They then met Jack Collins who sold ladies gloves from a shop in Romford and they joined forces. This then became Brent & Collins. They became a successful menswear retailer and then in the 60's renamed the business Take 6 opening boutiques across the West End. My father ended up as the General Manager/Senior Buyer and worked for the business in one form or another for forty years until it was sold in the mid-80's.

[Candidab]

My grandfather was Sid Brent. I grew up going to all the shops and the offices which ended up above the flagship shop in Oxford St. They sold up to the Burton Group in the 80’s and Sid and his second wife Ivy retired to Spain where they lived for many years. My father Barry, worked for the company until 1980. My uncle, Andrew Brent was a buyer. I’ll forward this to him as he’ll have loads of info.

[RT55]

I started work at Take 6 as a junior window-dresser in 1973 and left in 1975. The display team in 1973 was Phil Gobey, Andrew Jameson, John Leach, Tony (Mac) McKearney, Geoff ...?, Phil Spencer (also a junior) and one other fellow whose name eludes me (Richardson, Richards?). By the time the company was taken over by Phillip Green's WEW group only Mac was still there, I think. Take 6 had branches at Oxford Street, Marble Arch, Wells House, Bond Street, Wardour Street, Great Marlborough Street, Carnaby Street, East Ham, Romford, Barking(?) and Southend.

[dance2trance]

Thank you so much for this. There was also a shop I went to in Kensington Church Street. I wonder if you might know when WEW assumed control? Does not mater if you don't recollect just curious. Thanks again for your contribution!

[Quest787]

Sid Brent sold Take Six and retired to Marbella in 1986. From my understanding, the reason Take Six and many other independently owned boutiques vanished from the West End around that time is due to the decades-long moratorium on rents ending. Overnight, landlords could charge shop owners what these cash cow locations in Oxford Street, Regents Street, and Bond Street, etc, were actually worth. So, most family-run businesses were swallowed up by public companies. This is what happened to Take Six. Sid Brent died of a heart attack in the 1990s. His second wife, Ivy, 20 years his junior, discovered she had cancer shortly after, and died within a year a two.