With an already impressive portfolio of quality stores strategically located across London, it would always be nice to keep Hackett in the retail game. Monopoly. Especially now. The high-end menswear retailer has just opened in one of the most recognizable addresses in the world, New Bond Street. Number 69, specifically, bringing its account in the British capital to 12 stores.
New Bond Street now forms an axis of “West End excellence” linking its terraced houses on Savile Row, Regent Street and Jermyn Street. It is also important that the new store has opened in time for the important retail Golden Quarter.
“Bond Street is a big statement for us, it was key to our progression,” Dan Slater, vice president of Hackett Retail for Spanish parent company AWWG, told FashionNetwork.com.
“The important thing for us is to be among our peers. This is our showcase store and a reflection of what the brand is capable of, exclusively housing our Savile Row collection. [its key premium ready-to-wear line] here and of course Bond Street is where high quality customers shop.”
And that can’t be argued, because when it comes to the highest level of luxury retail in London, Bond Street is a must for a brand to be part of the elite club.
The store
Slater added: “Our concept store on Bond Street allows us to present a boutique atmosphere. The store aims for convenience and creating an experience… allowing customers enjoy the shopping experience.”
The store itself “reflects the brand’s expression of luxury, characterized by its renowned British touch, in a strong statement that the brand has found a new home on the legendary street, consolidating its presence in the capital.”
Distributed over two floors, its interior design combines classic details with contemporary design.
The details of Georgian architecture that form part of Hackett’s heritage are found alongside his mid-century modern furniture, contemporary British designer wallpapers, artwork by Hormazd Narielwalla, as well as unique antique décor pieces, inspired by the “passion for exploration, discovery and antiquities.”
Some familiar elements, borrowed from Hackett’s 14 Savile Row townhouse, reappear in the store, such as the emerald green paneled walls of the first-floor members’ lounge that also includes an in-house barber.
Here, visitors “can enjoy Hackett’s personal, bespoke, tailored tailoring services.”
premium line
The new store is also the first in the world dedicated entirely to the Hackett Savile Row ready-to-wear collection, the premium line within the brand’s clothing ranges (Hackett Mayfair, Hackett London and a sports range).
In that sense, it echoes other major brands occupying space on Bond Street in that many of them use such spaces to house their more exclusive RTW products.
The Savile Row collection, designed by Gianni Colarossi, Vice President of Hackett Product at AWWG, is inspired by the brand’s tailoring roots but, in more recent seasons, has evolved into a full lifestyle offering, with fabrics and luxurious details “to create a modern and relevant collection for today’s customer.”
Under the motto ‘driven by tradition, inspired by the present’, the No.14 Savile Row collection (to give it its full name) “perfectly combines the values of tradition with a contemporary touch.” The AW23 collection is made from the expected fine fabrics in “modern and elegant shades.” Raw seasonal colors, browns and greens are combined with intense navy blue and warm grays.
The colors are combined in coats, suits and jackets, in wool, silk and cashmere. Layered garments of cotton, silk blends and merino wool provide warmth and comfort within chinos, polos and knitwear.
Additionally, the collection includes a capsule of hybrid outerwear. Within the impeccably tailored range, the lightweight, multi-function outerwear recognizes the obvious demand for these types of items at this time of year.
Slater told us that the Savile Row collection reflects how much Hackett has evolved in about 10 years “to interpret consumer demands in the way men dress, that’s the natural course of change. But we also have to stick to our roots and try to be British wherever we can be, but also move things forward.”
Brand strength
Overall, Hackett continues to grow under owner AWG (All We Wear Group), which also owns Pepe Jeans and Façonnable, as well as the distributor in Spain and Portugal for Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
Slater continued: “As a brand, the last 18 months have been very strong for us, so we are very proud of where we have come and this.” [new] “The store is a testament to that success.”
Ahead of Hackett’s annual results, due to be published in December, he said the figures would reflect a true success story.
“It will show that we continue to grow year after year and the figures [the 12 months to April] reflects our best year. But having achieved it means that we must continue on that path.
“We are also very aware that we have our three key points [trading] months ahead. We don’t take anything for granted, but we believe we have a good enough plan to successfully get through this period. Our stock and service proposition is strong and we believe traffic will continue to grow in key areas and markets.
Hackett’s progress is already a far cry from the darkest days of the pandemic, from which he emerged “relatively unscathed.”
“Of course, there were some difficult times back then,” Salter explained with admirable understatement. “When 60-70% of your business comes from suits and 30% of your business comes from tourism and suddenly no one is wearing suits and there are no tourists, that can leave you quite exposed!
“But now we’re even bigger than before the pandemic, so while the suit business has come back in a slightly different way… the way people wear suits and the way they dress now , we have taken it into account and we have adapted and prospered.
“Our ability to pivot helped us offer the variety of Hackett lines, from the most casual to the most formal. This was a blessing.
“We have a strong casual essence in our line, we have sports collections [promoted by former champion racing driver Jenson Button], heritage collections… so we were able to recover quickly after the pandemic. The client had changed a little, but we were able to adapt to it. There were a lot of brands that couldn’t do that at the speed that we could. He allowed us to gain some market share.”
quality clients
He noted that, although London has not yet recovered the same tourist numbers as before the pandemic, “it is important to highlight that spending has increased and the quality of traffic entering the stores is much higher and the atmosphere is much stronger .
“I hope London continues to go from strength to strength by attracting tourists back. To quote local figures, Regent Street is still down 17% on pre-pandemic figures and that means a lot of customers will be lost, but we can make up for this with the product lines we offer, combined with our solid service. proposal in the store.”
While Hackett’s global presence currently has 67 stores (including outlets and stores), its customer base is strongest throughout Europe.
“London is our core market, but we are equally strong in France, Spain and Germany and we know that the Euro traveler remains our largest proportion of customers in other markets. But equally we can see that we are increasing spending in the United States and the United Arab Emirates, and whether that spending comes from online or from your travel, we know there is an opportunity to grow those markets.”
Therefore, Hackett is eager to continue seeking international opportunities. Having opened several European stores this year, the next phase of the expansion plan will be to focus on looking further afield, including Mexico (he has four stores there, all of which are doing very well, Slater said).
“But of course we know that the UAE is important and, through the franchise, we are looking at some opportunities there, as well as in the United States.
“Both are great opportunities, but we have to do it correctly. Growth should be organic and not necessarily a sprint to get to where we want to be. “We want to make informed decisions over the months and years to continue this profitable growth we are seeing.”
Copyright © 2023 FashionNetwork.com All rights reserved.
