London Calling

I have always found February a rather dull lacklustre month in retail.  January sale fever is now on the wane & final markdowns are the only temptations before spring/summer stock hits the shop floor.  As a rule we usually use this period for our seasonal autumn/winter buying trips to London.  This year marks a major change in our buying structure, after six years of womenswear being at the forefront of our business we are changing direction.  This autumn/winter we enjoyed amazing success with our menswear brands, which has now outgrown the square area allocated.  In order to move forward and build on these brands we have decided to scale back the womenswear collection, and move the men’s to the larger floor area which will give us the space to showcase & merchandise new brands to their full potential.

Our first port of call this buying season was the men’s trade event ‘Jacket Required’, Bloomsbury Square – always a good hunting ground for something new.  I have to say that before we actually got to the show we did make a slight detour to ‘Blade RubberStamps’, 12 Bury Place, (opposite the British Museum). This amazing shop specializes in rubber stamps & scrapbook materials; they also provide a bespoke custom made rubber stamp service for your own particular design.  We had our Fashion Dispensary stamp made here.  If you are visiting the British Museum, do take time to pop into this superb shop.

As expected Jacket Required was extremely busy, probably due to the fact the event is only on for two days and it’s the coolest menswear buying show in the UK with 143 brands exhibiting and not all are represented by agencies in the UK.  The key to this show’s success is the careful selection of brands by the event organisers – all brands at the show have a good point of difference – but all share an attitude.  There is an interesting mix of heritage brands and forward-facing brands.  As we are now steering our buying more towards men’s, this show proved very fruitful and we were able to secure new labels for the store.  Autumn/winter will see a major change for us in menswear, which we are confident, will be a hit with our customers. 

Sourcing new brands and ordering stock takes time if one wants to avoid any expensive buying mistakes.  By the end of the show we were feeling pretty done in and in need of fresh air.









Before heading back to Paddington station we decided to enjoy the crisp winter air and walk back to central London via Bedford Square, a beautifully elegant square built between 1775-1783 as an upper middle class residential area. The square takes its name from the main title of the Russell family & the Dukes of Bedford, who owned much of the land that is now Bloomsbury.  Bedford Square is one of the best preserved set pieces of Georgian architecture in London, but now mainly occupied as commercial offices.

Following this visual detour arrived at Selfridge’s store – always worth a visit for hard to find glossy magazine titles.  Being a fan of ‘Elle Decoration’ I was thrilled to find a copy of the new publication ‘Elle Decoration Country’ which has proved elusive where I live.  Also purchased were two favourites ‘Fantastic Man’ & ‘Plaza Uomo’.  We returned home after a long but very productive and enjoyable day – this being the first of many buying trips to London.