Gerald Ratner today announced his return to the jewellery trade - a decade after calling one of his products "crap".

He is to resurrect the Ratners name and create an online version of the high street brand, which disappeared following the remark.

The operation, run in conjunction with jewellery chain Goldsmiths, will mainly sell products priced between £40 and £300.

Mr Ratner said he had chosen to retain the name because a survey revealed it was still the country's most recognised jewellery retail brand. He said: "We were going to call it something else but thought it was more likely to get hits on the internet - even from a curiosity point of view."

Mr Ratner left the firm he built into the world's biggest jewellery empire after saying one of his company's cut-price decanter sets was "total crap". His speech to the Institute of Directors in April 1991 devastated consumer confidence and many of the company's stores were forced to close.

The group, which included the H Samuel and Ernest Jones shops, eventually relaunched under the name Signet.

Today, Mr Ratner said he was eager to revive the Ratners identity despite the link to the remark of a decade ago: "It would be nice to get the Ratners brand up and running and successful again."

The new business Ratners Online is scheduled to launch in September, selling jewellery and well-known branded watches.

Goldsmiths will handle warehousing, order taking and despatching and will assist in sourcing of stock.

Customers will be able to take Ratners Online goods back to Goldsmiths for a refund or repairs.

Mr Ratner, who recently sold a health club venture he established in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, for £3.7m, said he was confident the internet was the right place to launch a new business.

He added: "Internet shopping has been the fastest growing area of the retail sector. We won't have the overheads I had with the shops and that means I can work on a much lower margin."

Joining Mr Ratner in the venture will be Gary O'Brien, who served as a finance director during the last 18 months of Mr Ratner's time as chairman of Ratners.

The management team also includes Goldsmiths chief executive Jerzy Piasecki and Theo Paphitis, chairman of Rymans stationers and the La Senza lingerie businesses.