Karen Millen

The company was founded in 1981 when Karen Millen partnered with Kevin Stanford.[4] With a loan of just £100, the pair bought one thousand metres of white cotton and began manufacturing and selling white shirts to their friends. A party plan network followed and in 1983 they opened their first store in Maidstone, Kent, which was followed a few years later by branches in Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Guildford and London.