Peter Cowgill, chairman of the successful clothing retailer, said as many as 30 of its stores were targeted and the clean-up and replacing lost stock will cost in excess of £10m. He said he was "depressed" by how quickly things had spiralled out of control. "Ultimately you have to have faith in the law and this resolving itself," he told Retail Week.
The riots affected a broad range of businesses, from Debenhams to Boots, Carphone Warehouse and Argos, which said 18 stores had been looted. A report this week said at least 10% of retail and leisure businesses had been either directly or indirectly hit by the riots.
But JD Sports became the enduring image of the devastation. Robin Knight, a retail expert at restructuring firm Zolfo Cooper, said it was targeted because it is seen to "embody youth culture".
He said: "It has clearly positioned itself as a purveyor of very aspirational product amongst the UK's youth. Currys and Comet got raided because they sell high-value products but JD was very clearly in their minds as [the place] where they'd get the stuff they aspired to. JD has almost been a victim of its own success. It has worked hard to appeal to the youth market and when the country tipped into lawlessness, it still appealed to that market."
Branding experts are warning that the riots are a wake-up call for the fashion brands that JD Sports stocks. They have cultivated a "gangster chic" image and found themselves targeted by looters across the country. Mark Borkowski, a PR and branding expert, said that image was now coming back to haunt them.
"The riots are an absolute disaster for a number of brands. From the day the Daily Mail and the Guardian used that picture of the hoodie equipped completely in Adidas it has become a massive crisis.
"It has been a wake-up call for many brands which have spent millions developing 'gangster chic' and 'dangerwear' images." A rioter dressed head-to-toe in Adidas was pictured on the front pages of most of the country's national newspapers on Tuesday. One of the youngest offenders appeared at court this week in a full Adidas tracksuit. The brand, which is one of the major sponsors of the 2012 Olympics, took the step of condemning its customers for taking part in the riots. "Adidas condemns any antisocial or illegal activity," the company said. "Our brand has a proud sporting heritage and such behaviour goes against everything we stand for."
Borkowski said brands have been aligning themselves with gang and criminal culture for decades but ramped up their association with less clean-cut figures in recent years.
Adidas will next week launch an advertising campaign featuring rapper, gang member and convicted criminal Snoop Dogg. The Adidas Originals advert also stars fellow US rapper Big Sean, who was charged with sexual assault last week.
Earlier this week Levi's withdrew an advertising campaign that featured a young man squaring up to a line of riot police after a public outcry that it glorified riots. The 60-second film ended with the words "Go Forth".
Mark Ritson, a columnist for Marketing Week magazine, said brands which have been featured on newspaper front pages and TV news, have gone into "lockdown" to consider how to respond to the crisis. He said Adidas and Nike, which began as sportswear brands but have branched out into so-called streetwear and urbanwear, could lose hundreds of millions of pounds if their middle-class customers turn their backs on the brands.
"Adidas and Nike have got a very, very strong crisis management team and will have called in PR experts and marketeers to advise them on how best to respond," Ritson said.
Smaller brands that have had negative associations in the media include Criminal, Gio Goi, Fred Perry, Dr Martens, Burberry and Ben Sherman.
Borkowski said that while big sporting brands such as Adidas and Nike will be "terrified" about the risk of a public backlash against their association with the riots and looting, other niche brands and advertisers could be "excited" about the possibility of exploiting the riots to promote themselves.
"There will be creative [advertisers] who are showing a flicker of excitement about this," he said. "Yob culture is cool, brands know this and exploit it.
"The riots on the streets have triggered unprecedented middle-class opprobrium, but in a sense this adds to the uncomfortable coolness of the brands."
Ritson agrees that the most-stolen brands will receive "extra street cred" from their association with the riots and looting.
"Some brands may acquire extra street cred because they were part of it [the unrest]," he said. "It's remarkable, but for brands that are targeted at the young, pissing off a lot of older people will actual increase the brands' appeal to the young."
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