Not every high street brand that disappears is gone forever. Some endure — and even bounce back from apparent oblivion — and deserve to.

One such retailer is Joules —known for colourful British country clothing, eye-catching polo shirts, divine dresses and wonderful welly alternatives to Barbour and Hunter.

Rescued by Next in 2022 from what appeared to be the end of the brand, it's a continuing joy for me to see their brightly coloured shops adorning selected high streets — and they're not just surviving. Reports this year point to Joules being on track for its first profit since 2022, alongside a fresh UK and Ireland store expansion drive.

Not every retail brand can weather prolonged economic headwinds. Not all make it — think Debenhams, Wilko and others in recent times. Under these conditions, it's always a heart-warming feeling when one of our favourite brands survives — or in this case, resurfaces and rebuilds. Like the need for resilience in retail technology systems, so too there is the need for strategic, brand-level resilience as tastes, economics and trading headwinds morph and change. Bouncing back with new stores, and returning profits, is the commercial equivalent of resilience in action. Technology resilience is often measured by uptime and recovery. Brand resilience is measured by something much harder to accomplish — whether customers care enough to come back.

I happily did my small bit — and picked up two eye-catching polo shirts while passing through Ambleside. Supporting brands we genuinely value is one of the simplest ways we can help write their next chapter.

It's a useful reminder that resilience isn't just a technology capability. It's a commercial one too.

Which high street brand are you most pleased to see survive—or wish had survived?

📓 If brand-level resilience is a topic that interests you, I dig into it (as well as four other principles) in my book, Product Truths — books2read.com/productruths

Not every retail obituary is permanent

‘Product Truths’: My First Review