George Davies braves the high street again

The indefatigable fashion retailer George Davies has reinvented himself yet again at the grand old age of 67. The man who made Next a 1980s high street hit, and then launched the George range for Asa and Per Una for Marks & Spencer, has sunk £20m of his fortune into a new fashion chain called Give. True to its name, the chain will pass on a portion of profits - between five and 10 per cent - to charity.

It is a typically audacious move: at a time when high street retailers are still reeling from the financial crisis, and online revolutionaries like ASOS are the ones doing big business, Davies is taking a risk with 25 new stores, all to be opened before Christmas. Flagships will be on London's Regent Street and in regional shopping centres.

It is less than year since Davies left Marks & Spencer, where he was chairman of Per Una (above) having built up the brand and then sold it to M&S for a stunning £125m in 2004. When he quite last November there was talk of difficulties between him and M&S chief executive Sir Stuart Rose. But his departure was also thought to have been influenced by the upcoming divorce from his third wife Fiona and a desire to do something new.

Davies isn't the only retailer risking substantial cash on the high street: the Norway-based sports clothing chain Helly Hansen has announced it will open a flagship store in Manchester this autumn, followed by at least five other stores across Britain over the next three years.

Earlier this month Hansen announced that Melanie Slade, the 20-year-old girlfriend of Arsenal footballer Theo Walcott, had been chosen as the face of the brand's new lifestyle range Ask & Embla. She was picked by the Norwegians because she has "strong associations with fashion and sports". ·