The prospect of another deal for Harold Tillman, the retail entrepreneur, looks set to cause discord at home. His wife has long said that she is fed up with his “hollow” promises that each one is the last.
Mr Tillman once confessed: “She says she’s heard that so many times she doesn’t want to hear it again.”
The entrepreneur, with a fashion career spanning more than 40 years, is not finished yet, though.
He is understood to be considering a bid for Aquascutum, which has been put up for sale by Renown, its Japanese owner. Kim Winser, the former chief executive of Aquascutum, left in May after a year-long management buyout attempt failed.
A successful deal would enable Mr Tillman, who owns Jaeger, the clothing label, to unite two of the UK’s classic fashion brands.
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The entrepreneur, who counts Sir Philip Green, the retail billionaire, and Sir Stuart Rose, the executive chairman of Marks & Spencer, as close friends, made his first million before he was 30 after buying and taking public Lincroft Kilgour, a Savile Row tailor for which he worked.
Mr Tillman, 63, made history as one of the first male students at the London College of Fashion, which he joined soon after leaving school at 15.
Long before it was commonplace, he recognised the value of celebrity endorsement, securing George Best, the late footballer, to support a range of children’s clothes.
Perhaps his best-known deal was his bid for Jaeger in 2003. After snapping it up for an undisclosed sum from Richard Thompson, a fellow businessman, who in turn had acquired it weeks before from Coats, the cloth and thread group, for £1, he transformed the ailing brand to an elegant high street name once again. Tactics included employing Laura Bailey, the model, as the new “face” of Jaeger and its ambassador.
But there is one blot on his record — the failure of his Honorbilt clothing venture in 1990. Although he escaped disqualification as a director, the strain, both financial and psychological, proved heavy.