Jack Wills

Peter Williams and Robert Shaw founded the brand in 1999. Williams was 23 when the first store opened at 22 Fore Street, Salcombe, and it was created with £40,000 – the founders slept above the shop. The brand was named after one of the co-founders' grandparents.

In an interview with the Financial Times, Williams said: "When I started thinking about a premium brand I dredged up this vision of what I remembered in Salcombe. I thought, 'What if I could create a brand that could bottle what being at a British university was all about and all the cool amazing stuff that goes with that?' It's such a uniquely cherished part of your life. I thought if you could create a brand that epitomised that it would be very compelling."

The brand was a success, with a second store being opened in Fulham, London, in October the same year. The store was ram-raided and was closed down, but a further store was opened in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. As the business grew, Jack Wills stores were opened in places with universities or private schools, such as Eton, Oxford, Winchester and St Andrews.

Originally, it was heavily marketed towards university students, using the slogan and trademark "University Outfitters" to reflect the inspiration behind the brand.

In 2007 the brand was partly owned by Jack Wills Ltd, a private limited company registered in the UK, while a 27% stake was held by the private equity firm Inflexion after an investment deal. In 2011, the company was valued at £140 million, of which co-founders Williams and Shaw held a 52% stake and 21% stake, respectively.

In 2012 Williams debuted on the Sunday Times Rich List, coming in at number 370, with an estimated worth of £200 million ($326 million). In May 2013, Williams announced he was stepping aside as CEO to become a non-executive director. Former chief marketing officer of Vodafone, Wendy Becker, was appointed as CEO soon afterwards.

In February 2014, it was announced that fashion designer Richard Nicoll was to become the new creative director of Jack Wills, to come into effect Spring 2015. As of 2015, Williams was reinstated as working CEO on the board after the departure of Becker. Richard Nicoll also parted ways with the company amicably in autumn 2015.

In October 2016, Williams and private equity firm BlueGem became the joint owners, after long-standing investor Inflexion left after nine years.

Stores

Since the first store opened in Salcombe, Jack Wills stores have opened across the United Kingdom and internationally. At its peak, there were - as of September 2016 - approximately 70 stores in the UK, including eight in London, four in Scotland (Edinburgh, St Andrews, Aberdeen and Glasgow), two in Wales (Abersoch and Cardiff), two in the Channel Islands (St Peter Port and St Helier), and one in Northern Ireland (Belfast). There were also eight outlet stores across the UK; Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, Banbridge in Northern Ireland, Bicester, Halifax, Cheshire Oaks, Street, Somerset, Swindon and Wembley in London. In the Republic of Ireland there was also a Jack Wills outlet store in the Kildare Outlet Village, close to Dublin, even though sales of the brand continue to drop in Ireland.

The most recent store to open in the UK is in Marlborough, Wiltshire.

In December 2011, Jack Wills opened in Hong Kong with the launch of two stores, in Leighton Centre at Causeway Bay and in Harbour City mall at Kowloon. In November 2014, Jack Wills launched its first store in Singapore at Raffles City Shopping Centre with an opening party.

By 2023, the website listed 31 Jack Wills stores across the United Kingdom (including 1 in Scotland, 1 in Wales and 2 in Northern Ireland). 11 of these were branded as Jack Wills Outlet stores.