Truworths

Truworths (officially Truworths International Ltd) is a South African clothing and footwear retailer.

Truworths International Ltd

Company type	Public
Traded as	JSE: TRU
ISIN	ZAE000028296
Industry	Clothing Footwear
Founded	1917; 108 years ago (1917)
Headquarters	Cape Town , South Africa
Number of locations	888 (2017)[1]
Area served	Southern Africa United Kingdom Republic of Ireland
Key people	Michael Mark (CEO) Hilton Saven (Chairman)[2]
Revenue	R21 billion (2024)[1]
Operating income	R4.5 billion (2024)[1]
Number of employees	11,698[2]
Subsidiaries	Office Holdings

Founded in 1917, and based in Cape Town, Truworths operates a total of 888 stores, 763 of which are in South Africa, 88 in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland, and the rest elsewhere in Southern Africa.^[1]

History

In 1917, The Alliance Trading Company was established, later changing its name to Truworths Fashion House, and then Truworths Ltd in 1940.^[1]

By the 1950s, the retailer had expanded to over 80 stores. Credit accounts for customers began being offered in 1955, and sales reached R1 million in 1959.^[1]

By the late 1970s, Truworths had a total of 280 stores across South Africa.^[1]

In December 2015, Truworths acquired the UK shoe chain Office Holdings for £256 million.^[3]

Operations

Truworths sells clothing and footwear in physical stores and online, and retails under a number of different brands, including Truworths, Truworths MAN, LTD, LTD Kids, Daniel Hetcher, UZZI, OFFICE London, Earth Addict, Earth Child, naartjie, Offspring, Identity, and Context.^[1]

In 2024, 54% of Truworths' revenue was generated by cash sales, with the remaining 48% coming from credit (store account) sales. In the same year, its active account holder total was 2.9 million. Also in 2024, 82% of Truworths sales were from physical stores, while 18% were from online purchases.^[1]