Chums (company)

Chums is a Multichannel marketing British mail order and e-commerce retailer based in Knowsley, Merseyside, Merseyside, England, that sells both male and female clothing and footwear. Founded in 1981 by Graham Rubin as a catalogue-based mail order retailer selling men’s trousers, the company now operates primarily online selling a widely diverse product range. 
Founded in 1981 by Graham Rubin, Chums is a Multichannel marketing mail order and e-commerce retailer operating out of the UK. The origins of the company can be traced back to The McGaw Clothing Manufacturing Company - a firm owned by Rubin’s father that manufactured kidswear and schoolwear, specialising in lines of trousers. After leaving school in 1972, Rubin - whose family have a background in retail and manufacturing dating back multiple generations to the 1920s - worked for McGaw until he decided to set up Chums. 
Chums initially operated as a mail order clothing service which specialised in quality trousers for men. The company, which started trading out of Rubin’s bedroom, originally sold its line of formal trousers directly to the public via off-the-page direct response advertisements in national newspapers and magazines. After six months, Chums had moved from Rubin’s bedroom to its own small office and warehouse with the help of a small bank loan. 
By the time Chums had moved into its own premises, the company had diversified its product range, adding lines of suits, jackets, shirts, Knitted fabric and footwear to its growing range of menswear. It was at this time, in 1982, that the company published its first Mail order detailing its range and allowing customers to order directly. With a database of customers recruited through the original mail-order system, one year later Chums turned over its first million pounds.
Following further diversification and expansion, which has seen Chums move online and launch ranges of women’s clothing, homeware, mobility products and gifts, in 2015 the company announced it was launching an range of clothing targeting 'younger-older' consumers. Launched under the in-house brand name ‘Pegasus’, this range of clothing is aimed at the over-50 market, or as the business’ previous Head of Marketing commented, those customers that were “teenagers in the 1960s and 1970s - the first liberated teenagers”. In 2019, Chums made local and national headlines in the UK with its #MemoriesInColour campaign. The innovative campaign to mark Remembrance Sunday saw the company ask customers to send in old photographs of family members from World War I and World War II, as well as any other black and white family photos from before 1960, so they could colourise and restore them, providing a platform for customers to share stories of heroic loved ones
Chums remains a family-run company with both of Rubin’s sons, Adam and Josh, working within the business. The company employs over 160 staff and is based in a 60,000 square foot unit in Knowsley, Merseyside, Liverpool.
The company owns a number of in-house brands including Chums, Pegasus, Tootal, Fitting Room, Benbrook, Amber and Aldon.
Chums currently operates out of Knowsley, Merseyside, Liverpool , with the vast majority of orders and purchases now being made via its website. However, the business does also have an onsite showroom. 
Aside from online and catalogue orders, Chums also operates in a number of retail concession stores across the UK. 
Category:Companies established in 1981
Category:Companies based in Liverpool
Category:Privately held companies