THE eyes of the world are on the latest exciting clothing brand to be launched on the public and the Cotswolds has the first bite of the fashion cherry.

That new brand is FG4, a somewhat cryptic name for fashion guru George Davies' latest venture, but when unravelled is remarkably obvious.

Davies, the legend behind Next, George at Asda and the saviour of Marks and Spencer through his Per Una brand, admits he is a workaholic and now three years into his eighth decade has no intention of reaching for the metaphoric pipe and slippers.

"I did think about it when I was around 58 and had just sold the George brand to Asda. I thought I'd like a go at sailing but ran out of wind in a port in Portugal and after three weeks I'd had enough," he mused.

Coincidentally he had just taken a phone call from an acquaintance at Marks and Spencer; chief executive Roger Holmes, basically asking him to come up with a new brand for them. Deciding he was a sailor most definitely not worth his salt, he left one helm for another and created Per Una in 2001.

"I was brought up with Marks and Spencer. It was and is a respected company with high values and a great benevolence which is part of my psyche. Per Una brought another designing opportunity to me and I was very proud of it. They let me do it my way, even down to the displays and set-up because I knew what worked and they let me get on with it," he said.

Eleven years ago he sold the brand to M&S and began to hatch his latest concept FG4. Despite its launch in the Cotswolds next week, the brand has actually been going for four years in the Middle East. March will see its re-birth on the UK market wtih an entirely different method of sale. Eventually Davies will open shops in the UK, not in large city high streets, but in market towns and has already eyed up potential venues in the Cotswolds where he lives. He is also looking at offering people franchises to sell his clothing range.

"I'm open to that and to offers from anyone who is intersted in working with me," he said. It gives others an opportunity to have their own business and I know they will do their best to make their business work.

Davies is very proud of the new brand. A "Lancashire lad" by birth, he learned the trade from the ground upwards, doubtlessly gaining appreciation for quality from his mother who preferred to make her own clothes as many of the off-the-peg examples were poorly made.

"She said a lot of it was rubbish," said Davies fondly, "and I grew up to appreciate that quality was important.

Grammar schoool educated, Davies originally embarked on a career in dentistry but failed to cut his teeth on it. He threw the towel in before the end of the degree course and went off to John Moore's Littlewoods empire to became a stock controller.

"In those days they insisted you start at the bottom. It made sense, You learned everything and it gave me an appreciation of how business worked. It developed my motto of "never assume," he said.

He then asked to go on a buying and design course but was told he had to work for a while in sales first to get an appreciation of how customers behaved. Later he was sent to work for four months in woollen mills in Yorkshire and cotton mills in Lancashire where he said he learned every cough and spit from the raw material stage to the finished cloth ready to be send to the manufacturers.

By the time he was 28 he was travelling the world and developed valuable contacts and an insight into international dealing.

Davies, who lives near Moreton, is immensely excited about launching FG4 onto the UK market. A lot has gone into its design. While the chldren's clothing is understandably heavier on girls' fashions there is an extensive range for boys. Favourites have already been marked. Shirts with mock braces, tiger prints, soft cotton tops and hooded gilets are stand-outs. The material quality is high and several items carry a FG4 designer badge.

"It won't spoil or twist in the wash like some other clothing brands do," he says with a nod towards a particular inexpensive high street clothing range. "And it's not expensive, either. I prefer to have narrower profit margins and be able to give people style as well as quality at affordable prices," he said likening the cost of FG4 to that of Next.

The girls' clothing is equally eye-catching with florals and bold Aztecs to the fore. Beading features highly as do floaty party dresses and tops in soft materials with an expensive feel. Colours range from whites with bold statements to pastels and deep emerald and navy with lace and frills providing a fashionable edge.

The women's range is particularly stunning. Here he mixes hand-embroidered tops with knife-edge pleats, cotton knits and sculptured cut-out jackets, skirts and trousers in gold metalic and floaty chiffon and beaded tops. Long dresses and skirts feature throughout and include figure-enhancing stretch fabrics with a sculptured texture which sit next to Aztec and tapestry-style knits and jacquard fabric jackets with an oriental flavour.

His range, he says is aimed for the mid-20s upwards. And he admits a preference to clothe women to men because: "A woman with style at age 18 will still want style at age 80. On the other hand, men, as boys go through a fashion statement stage at 15 or 16 but then dress like their fathers when they reach 30."

And what about the name FG4 which no one appears to have questioned, until now?

"Quite simple really," he offers. "It's a play on words and basically stands for Fasion by George for........women or children."

The range is presented next week in a series of fashion shows at schools in the Cotswolds, beginning in Broadway, as Davies' way of helping schools fundraise and develop an appreciation for fashion.

It also gets his brand out into the public at grass-roots level as he looks at developing his next stage of shop outlets and franchise opportunities.

For more infformation about the range and launch go to www.georgedavies.com