Represent Drumrolls for London Flagship With New, Bigger Space in Harrods
LONDON — Represent, the British men’s fashion label hailing from Manchester, is giving a tease of what its London flagship will look like next year with the opening of a new permanent space on the menswear-focused second floor in Harrods.
Neighboring brands like Canada Goose, Homme Plissé, Kenzo and Helmut Lang, Represent takes over the space formerly occupied by Dsquared2. The 610-square-foot space comes with a refined, minimalist aesthetic that’s in line with the brand’s first-ever 3,100-square-foot physical store at 461 North Robertson Boulevard in Los Angeles.
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The space will offer an edited range of items from the brand. A capsule collection exclusive to Harrods will drop in October. A party will take place this week, celebrating the launch of the new space, as well as the drop of its fall 2024 collection.
Speaking to WWD from Los Angeles, George Heaton, who cofounded the label with his brother Mike in 2011, said the brand was able to expand its presence in Harrods because it has been performing “phenomenally well” since securing a smaller space there last fall.
“We felt undervalued in terms of the space that we could put products in. We did a little exclusive capsule with them that had the Harrods bear with our iconic Owners Club graphic in the mix. It was sold out on the launch night, and we did like a little event with a party after. We wanted to go bigger this year,” said Heaton.
The brand has been able to expand swiftly, switching from a predominantly direct-to-consumer and wholesale model to opening stores in Los Angeles, Manchester, and London without any external investment, because of its clear, mid-market positioning, according to Heaton.
“We sit under top luxury. We are quite attainable for the everyday customer. It is a big bubble at the moment, and we’re seeing so many luxury brands come down into this bubble. We’ve been sitting at this price point for nearly 10 years, and we’re growing massively year-on-year. Every retailer is getting such a good sell-through with us that we don’t want to disrupt that,” he added.
Heaton said the physical retail rollout is all about creating cohesive spaces where the brand can get consumers and its community to see, touch, and even smell the Represent spirit.
“We tested with Selfridges in Manchester and London and a few other spaces all over the world to get that concept right. From what the concrete looked like. How it felt. What the fragrance was. To what kind of furniture to put inside the stores. We opened in Los Angeles in March this year. We will open in Manchester this fall, and the big flagship in London will come in January 2025,” Heaton revealed.
In Soho, Represent will take over an over 5,000-square-foot space that used to host Princi, the Italian dining concept acquired by Starbucks in 2016, on 135 Wardour Street. It’s an enviable location as it’s a stone’s throw away from cult streetwear establishments like Stüssy, Supreme and Palace.
Heaton is confident that fans of Represent will queue up when the store opens. “We’ve done a lot of pop-ups over the past five or six years, especially in London, and we’ve always had thousands of people turn up, and it’s always been one of those queuing culture moments,” he added.
Heaton said the idea of doing a brand on his own came around 15 years ago when brands like Supreme, Diamond Supply and Stüssy were leading the streetwear boom.
“It was a time when West Coast streetwear came over to the U.K. I wanted to be that version of what they were but for Britain. It felt like there was not much in that space. There were a lot of skate brands, and then there were luxury brands, and I wanted to combine both,” he continued.
“Myself and Mike were graphic designers. At the start, we just printed graphic T-shirts. Sell them, and bring 50 more in. Sell them, and bring 100 more. But I wanted to elevate that. Luckily, over the past eight years, streetwear and luxury have come together so well, especially with what Virgil Abloh did with Off-White. Luxury brands started hiring streetwear designers and artists, and it all became one big world that we could sit well in. The consumer has also grown with us on that journey. We’re still selling to the same person who was buying from us 13 years ago because we’ve always stood for luxury qualities but at that attainable price point,” added Heaton.
As of 2024 the U.K. is the biggest market for Represent, with the U.S. coming in second. Heaton has been living in Los Angeles for the past nine months as he aims to better understand the American consumer.
“I don’t want to put it down, but the U.K. is very sheep-driven. When a T-shirt is popular, everyone wears it. If a haircut is popular, everyone has that haircut. Whereas in the U.S., everyone’s trying to be very unique. So many different subcultures and styles coexist here and all turn on each other, and people like to go between different styles. I also noticed that they have this very Americana Western take on cowboy boots and bell bottoms, straight-leg denim, and crop T-shirts. It is quite different from the U.K.,” he observed.
The brand now offers a full range of items across its main line and its performance-focused sub-line 247 with prices such as 795 pounds for a leather jacket, 205 pounds for a pair of shoes, to 100 pounds for a graphic T-shirt.
High-profile collaborations are on the way as well. Heaton confirmed that it will work with a luxury British heritage brand on a project, in addition to a landmark collaboration, revealed last week, with the recently reunited rock band Oasis.
“It is something that we have been working on for quite a long time. There’s been a lot of back and forth, because obviously, Oasis was a band that broke up. So trying to get a collaboration with a band that isn’t together is hard, as you can imagine. They wouldn’t say yes, but then in our conversations with their management team, they would not bat an eye to it, but they would say things that obviously were leading up to this moment,” Heaton added.
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