Mellon Fashions New Backers For Global Label

Tamara Mellon, the entrepreneur who built Jimmy Choo into a global brand, is courting investors to plough millions of pounds into her new fashion business.

Sky News has learnt that Ms Mellon, who was appointed as a British Business Ambassador by David Cameron after the last General Election, is aiming to raise more than £10m through a placing of new shares in her eponymous company.

The fundraising discussions are understood to involve a number of family offices in the US rather than existing investors in Tamara Mellon LLC, who include Michael Spencer, the former Conservative Party treasurer; Lord Marland, a businessman and former minister in the coalition; and David Ross, the Carphone Warehouse co-founder.

Insiders said that Ms Mellon was keen to use the new funds to grow her company's digital presence and to open a small number of stores.

One source suggested that the board was examining a number of options for the business, one of which would involve scaling back the original strategy amid some disappointment over the company's initial performance.

Under one scenario, the entrepreneur could raise as little as £5m, or she could seek to raise more than double that sum depending upon the level of interest.

Tamara Mellon had experienced a number of manufacturing headaches in Italy, while a number of the original investors had expressed a reluctance to commit new capital, the source said.

Prior to launching her label, Ms Mellon's track record had been impressive, having walked away from Jimmy Choo with an £85m fortune following its sale to Labelux, the Swiss-based fashion label collection, in 2011.

In an interview with The Sunday Times in 2012, Ms Mellon was candid about her reasons for leaving the company she had founded and worked for since 1996.

"I didn't like the equity plan that had been put in place. The management team were asked to invest their own money in the business and hold their shares for seven years, which would then be subject to income tax and not come under capital gains. I felt it was unfair," she said.

Ms Mellon began her fashion career on a stall on Portobello Road in London, where she sold T-shirts.

She later worked at the UK edition of Vogue magazine, where she met Jimmy Choo, a Malaysian-born Hackney cobbler, going into business with him by launching a store in Knightsbridge.

The company made handsome returns for a succession of private equity-owners, although Ms Mellon has since been critical of the buyout industry, telling another newspaper:

"What happens in private equity is they come in and they say we’re going to be a great partner. We want to hold this long term and we’re going to help you nurture and build this brand, [but] the day after signing, they talked about selling the business.”

Labelux has since listed Jimmy Choo on the London Stock Exchange, and the company now has a market value of more than £660m.

A spokesman for Ms Mellon, who recently announced her engagement to Michael Ovitz, a Hollywood talent agent, declined to comment.