When George Treves and Sean Thomas started selling tee shirts in French ski resorts to fund their passion for the winter sport, little did they imagine that almost 20 years later the business would have 60 stores and annual sales in excess of £58.4million.

White Stuff, the fashion retailer that started life as a sports inspired clothing company, has just posted a 42 per cent rise in underlying profits to £13.3million in the year to April 26.

Just one year earlier, White Stuff had more than doubled profits to £7million on sales of £44.6million.

It is now one of the fastest growing privately owned companies in Britain, and is one of the few retailers to buck the trend on the high street. There are plans to open a further 30 stores over the next three years.

Much of the success is due to Sally Bailey, a former Miss Selfridge brand director who was appointed as chief executive by the founders five years ago to develop the business.

At the time White Stuff, with its distinctive Chinese symbol logo, had just 15 stores and an annual turnover of £14million.

The founders, who still own 80 per cent of White Stuff, did not want to ‘fast track’ the company but recognised that they did not understand the high street well enough to truly exploit its opportunities.

The recent expansion has been self-financed, although last year the co-founders did enter exploratory talks with private equity firms about taking a minority stake. They later decided that the timing was not appropriate.

Initially, Bailey took a softly softly approach. She spent time training store managers and implemented new procedures for recruiting staff. Today new staff receive a spoof Hello! style magazine, featuring interviews with archetypal customers, to help them better understand their needs and the White Stuff brand.

Company communications were improved, and customer feedback was sought. ‘What is the best thing we can do?’ was a question regularly asked of customers. As White Stuff evolved, their responses proved invaluable.

When young mothers complained about the size of the changing rooms, for example, a new extra big one (capable of fitting a buggie) was installed into each shop.

When customers complained that they disliked walking from a changing room straight into the store, a false dividing wall was introduced. Water coolers and chairs were added, while a range of colouring books to distract children when their mothers were shopping were made available.

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