Can John Lewis’s first style director ship model in addition to gross sales?
“I’m very keen on John Lewis, however . . . ” So started a remark beneath an FT article in regards to the British division retailer chain final yr. That sense of fondness with reservations sums up what number of clients really feel in regards to the retailer, which has seen its nationwide treasure standing take a well-documented dip, in addition to tens of hundreds of thousands in monetary losses, in recent times.
So easy methods to reignite residual affection into one thing a bit extra dynamic, easy methods to make it simply “I really like John Lewis”? That’s one of many challenges confronted by the model’s first director of design for style, Queralt Ferrer, who began this yr. She joins the employee-owned enterprise two years right into a turnaround technique dubbed the “Partnership Plan”, geared toward reaching £400mn in income by 2025.
After I meet Ferrer and industrial director Kathleen Mitchell on the model’s press day in September, Mitchell appears assured about supercharging the retailer’s current “affordable” value factors with “emotional model”. “There’s the logic of is that good worth? Is {that a} material I wish to put on? However then there’s do I find it irresistible? Is it going to make me really feel nice?”
A serious a part of Ferrer’s remit is to spice up the prevailing in-house ranges: John Lewis & Companions, And/Or, Kin and the worth vary Anyday. Spanish-born Ferrer was the womenswear design director for Inditex-owned Massimo Dutti for 17 years, and design director for womenswear, lingerie and wonder at Marks & Spencer earlier than organising a consultancy in 2019 and childrenswear model 5 of Us in 2021. She led and oversaw design and improvement for the John Lewis & Companions autumn/winter 2022 womenswear assortment, and from spring/summer time 2023 onwards she is going to do the identical for all in-house manufacturers throughout womenswear, menswear and childrenswear.
As we stroll around the rails in One Marylebone, a Sir John Soane-designed church turned venue for rent, Ferrer explains that her strategy is “not about chasing the newest development any extra. We choose the traits that we predict are related for our clients.”
For womenswear this season, which means tailor-made jackets in suiting materials, velvet and tweed, large trousers and denims, boyish striped shirts and bouclé coats and “shackets”. The leather-based Mary Jane sneakers and Gucci-esque loafers look extra designer than the £55-£89 price ticket, and, importantly, are literally snug.
There are a couple of prints, such because the inexperienced floral high-neck midi-dress worn by Queralt on the press occasion with a belt excessive, which is a bestseller. Taken from an archive sample that has a touch of William Morris, the £59 gown isn’t massively totally different from the array of floral midis on the excessive road, (the British girl’s love affair with the floral midi hasn’t waned apparently) nevertheless it’s created from a heavier, extra flattering viscose material and appears dearer, particularly teamed with a blazer.
The vibe is quintessential John Lewis, tastefully up to date with a touch of enjoyable, within the Hush/Boden/Albaray house that appears to have struck a chord with the center market. Blazers with matching trousers are available in a deep bottle inexperienced and the recent pink hue popularised not too long ago by Italian luxurious model Valentino. Seemingly, the John Lewis buyer likes color and Ferrer says “we actually consider this pink is the color of the season”.
For males within the John Lewis & Companions vary, neutrals prevail, comparable to an oatmeal and navy-blue cashmere Breton jumper and terracotta wire overshirt, whereas tailoring displays the casualisation of workwear with softer building, longer jackets and better waists on trousers.
The boys’s suiting — whether or not an off-the-cuff wire swimsuit (jacket £150, trousers £70) or a navy swimsuit in tremendous 100s wool (£260) — looks as if the strongest a part of the in-house supply. Whereas the ladies’s bottle-green swimsuit matches properly, it’s in a mixture of viscose and polyester; it could be good to see an analogous vary of reasonably priced tailoring for girls in additional luxurious materials. A pair of males’s chinos with a excessive waist and pleated entrance stand out as being subtly trendy, and sign a return to extra elegant trousers.
Designing for a division retailer poses the problem of making a broad enchantment with out overly diluting its id. Requested who the core clients are, Ferrer says: “Our clients are busy, they probably have youngsters or they don’t have a lot time, so they’ll come to us to provide them options and since they belief what we ship. We’re engaged on fairly constant types that may enchantment to a youthful buyer as properly an older one.”
She says the creation of her position is “about having design on the entrance of our mindset, respect for product and design. A lot of the ranges are designed in-house and it’s a tremendous luxurious to have 45 designers for our personal manufacturers.” Accelerating own-brand ranges additionally will increase inventive management. Ferrer has signed on extra European suppliers to assist shorten lead instances and allow the model to react to buyer tastes. Gross sales of Queralt’s John Lewis & Companions womenswear assortment, launched at the beginning of September, are up 38 per cent over the identical interval final yr.
New providers comparable to clothes and accent rental, (the place clients can borrow gadgets comparable to a Roop purse for £6.76 for 4 days or a “cottagecore” gown from O Pioneers, £53.53 for 4 days), tie in with the retailer’s Partnership Plan to diversify income streams, develop rental resale and recycling, and attain web zero carbon by 2035.
Ferrer appears assured in regards to the position of the division retailer, regardless that different British establishments comparable to Home of Frasers and Debenhams have entered into administration during the last 4 years: “John Lewis is a trusted, heritage model and that’s one thing distinctive. I believe [the department store] continues to be super-relevant, and I’m keen about that curation . . . I believe we’re in the fitting place. Due to the price of residing [crisis] it’s laborious, however we’re providing superb high quality for an excellent value.”
Carola Lengthy is the FT’s deputy style editor
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