Thomas Pink


Thomas Pink Limited is a British shirt-maker that was established in London in 1984 by three Irish brothers – James, Peter and John Mullen. Since 1999 it has been part of the Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy group. In 2018 it lost £23.5 million; in 2019 it changed its brand name to Pink Shirtmaker.

History

The company was started in 1984 by three Irish brothers – James, Peter and John Mullen. It was named after Thomas Pink, an eighteenth-century tailor in Mayfair, London.
In 1999 it was sold to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, which paid about €48 million for 70% of the company. At the time, the company had 20 shops, including 17 in the UK, one in Dublin and two in the United States. LMVH bought the remaining 30% of the company in 2003.
In 2012 Thomas Pink launched legal proceedings in the UK against Victoria's Secret, which was marketing lingerie under the label "Pink"; Thomas Pink claimed Victoria's Secret was infringing on its trademarks, confusing customers and tarnishing its image pursuant to the Trade Marks Act 1994. Although Victoria's Secret attempted to raise a number of defences including revocation for non-use, and attacking the validity of the marks for descriptiveness and lack of distinctiveness, in July 2014 in the High Court of England and Wales Judge Colin Birss ruled in Thomas Pink's favour. Victoria's Secret, which is owned by L Brands, is making efforts to protect its trademarks in the United States, where the British trademark ruling did not have any effect.
In 2018 the company made an operating loss of £23.5 million. In 2019 it changed its brand name to Pink Shirtmaker.