The style trade carousel spins ever sooner, with extra product, cheaper product and brash branding dominating the agenda for a lot of corporations and their customers.
In full distinction, Margaret Howell follows a way more thought-about course, doing what it’s finished for nearly 55 years – making restrained, sensible and delightful garments for women and men who respect restrained, sensible and delightful garments.
Essentially the most constant of British designer manufacturers was began in 1970 by Margaret Howell, assisted by her then-husband Paul Renshaw. Howell began making high-quality males’s shirts, which turned out to be standard with ladies too. Now aged 78, Howell stays design director and requirements setter for her creation, which right now embraces clothes, equipment, homewares and furnishings.
Complementing the unique Margaret Howell Mainline is MHL, which offers a extra informal, extra workwear-inspired supply.
A ten-minute movie from 2020 by Howell and Emily Richardson enchantingly captures the spirit and method of the designer that permeates the corporate. Watch it right here .
Since 1990 the London-based firm has had Japanese house owners. At present it’s a part of Tokyo-based multi-brand retail group TSI Holdings and the model continues to be, to make use of a well-worn phrase, Large in Japan, the place it has 70+ retailers and has a turnover of across the equal of £100m.
The UK and remainder of the world enterprise, which generates gross sales of round £18m, is run from London. A revenue (earlier than tax) of round £500,000 in 2022 grew to become a lack of round £400,000 in 2023 resulting from rising prices and foreign money fluctuations.
Since February this 12 months the managing director has been Caroline Attwood, the successor to Richard Craig, who retired after a 33-year profession with Margaret Howell.
A former CEO of British equipment model Ally Capellino, industrial director at premium equipment agency Anya Hindmarch and head of gross sales at Mulberry, she brings nearly 20 years of expertise within the related market phase to her function. Additional again in her profession Attwood labored in kidswear and menswear within the USA and within the Center East – a powerful CV for somebody who began as an allocator for cotton tops and jersey bottoms in Dorothy Perkins within the mid-Nineteen Nineties.
Within the newest Eric Musgrave Interview, our trusty contributor discusses with Attwood the prospects for development for such a specialised and revered model as Margaret Howell and wonders why it has taken different elements of the style trade so lengthy to get up to Howell’s sustainable “gradual luxurious” method.
How would you describe Margaret Howell to somebody who doesn’t know the model?
If I used to be speaking to a potential buyer, I’d say we provide fantastically thought-about clothes, furnishings and homewares. There’s a sort of understated confidence about every thing. You put on our garments and simply really feel snug and relaxed. The garments do not put on you.
It all the time begins from a really cautious selection of supplies, that are all the time proper for the job. It’s a beautiful, grounded, actual method. Ours are merchandise that final, that perform, that may be worn by any age. That has another enchantment in such a trend-led world. Tendencies are usually not usually a consideration for Margaret.
When you strive on our clothes, you get a brand new understanding of how particular it’s. There’s undoubtedly an elevated appreciation for clothes like ours. I’ve met fairly lots of people in our (Wigmore Road, London) flagship who put on solely Margaret Howell. If folks know the model, then they actually realize it.
Margaret Howell menswear
As the primary new MD in additional than 30 years, what particular transient have you ever been given by the Japanese house owners?
Basically, I’m right here to guide on the important thing adjustments we have to make to take the enterprise ahead. In 2025 it should grow to be a 55-year-old enterprise. How will we set it up for the following 50 years? It’s such a beautiful firm, so how will we evolve it?
Each our UK and Japan groups need to preserve the soul and the consistency of the model. Consistency actually has been the spine of the enterprise through the years, and we nonetheless must harness that.
One of many actual strengths I noticed after I visited Japan just lately was the retailers over there. They’re actually in sync with what we do right here. That is a credit score to the respect the Japanese house owners have for this enterprise. It is such an essential relationship.
By way of our UK collections, our Japanese companions purchase into a few of it, the place it is related when it comes to the local weather. However as a result of they’ve 70+ shops and we now have 10, they develop extra kinds, which we approve. All of it types a pleasant circle.
What particular challenges did you face taking on in February?
Primarily, it was about getting power again within the enterprise. A number of tasks had stalled due to COVID. There have been fairly just a few again workplace and infrastructure tasks, that I’ve dealt with in earlier roles, which wanted to be picked up once more. I’m a fantastic believer that should you get the again workplace strong, you may construct on it.
Since I arrived, we have re-platformed our e-commerce web site and we’ve moved our warehouse operation to a third-party. We now have a bonded facility, which solves the long-standing post-Brexit responsibility drawback that every one UK corporations have needed to take care of.
I additionally needed to tackle any want for change administration. We have heaps of people that have been right here for a protracted, very long time, which is fantastic, however a brand new MD inevitably indicators change. It’s been a fragile stability of how you can handle the wants of the folks with the longer term wants of the enterprise.
What’s Margaret’s function today?
Margaret is design director, so she’s in various the time and nonetheless offers the path for the gathering. She nonetheless has a tremendous eye, and it’s as eager as ever. And clearly she offers everyone with an enormous quantity of inspiration.
After nearly 55 years, may Margaret Howell be described as a cult model?
We in all probability would not time period it like that. It is extra a model that folks simply gravitate to after they have an appreciation of sure issues and discover a connection to our product. As I mentioned earlier, if folks realize it, they actually realize it.
The aesthetic and ethics of the corporate appear hardly to have modified since 1970. Is {that a} plus level?
I believe it is an enormous plus level. Our ethics actually replicate Margaret and who she is as an individual. She’s true and grounded. Why would that change? You do not change your ethics should you dwell by them. It is all rooted in her love of powerful, good, sincere clothes.
Now we have a tremendous museum-standard archive of over 3,000 items, taken care of by a highly-trained archivist. It is a tremendous useful resource and you may see how the look has advanced over the a long time.
With buzz phrases like sustainability, gradual style, making regionally, shopping for greatest and so forth, flying about, has a number of the style trade caught up with what Margaret Howell has been doing because the begin?
Completely. Our method is a mirrored image of Margaret and I believe considerably of her era. It is probably not a brand new concept to take care of issues, mend issues, reuse issues, choose properly, make selections for the long run that serve you nicely. Having no waste isn’t a brand new concept. It was once finished out of necessity. Individuals did not have lots, in order that they taken care of issues. What’s occurring now inside a number of the trade can also be an act of necessity. Individuals realise we will not proceed down the current highway and subsequently we should be extra thoughtful and aware.
We proceed to enhance what we provide. We have simply launched a Care & Restore service with on-line repairs platform Sojo.
Now we have a tremendous crew right here engaged on sustainability. We’re a part of loads of trade teams making an attempt to do the suitable factor and transfer in the suitable path. We have simply printed on-line our second annual report on our progress. It is a critical doc. Now we have decarbonisation objectives, and we’re working with the design crew to make the suitable selections. It isn’t an insignificant factor.
Margaret Howell womenswear
The method means your costs are, comparatively talking, costly. This season, for instance, a ladies’s heavy wool overcoat is £1,695, whereas a males’s basic white poplin shirt is £365 in your Mainline assortment. Do these worth ranges concern you?
Comparatively is strictly the suitable phrase. There are many manufacturers which can be dearer, and folks select what they spend their cash on. It is actually essential we let folks know that if they’re buying from us, they will belief the product, depend on it. Our materials are very a lot sourced from specialist suppliers, our make is de facto distinctive, we do not have loopy markups, so the value is a good reflection of the worth and supplies and work that goes into the product.
We do, as you’ve talked about, have our MHL line in addition to our Mainline. The unique concept of MHL wasn’t to have a less expensive line. It was to take a look at more durable materials and extra workwear-inspired items. MHL is extra a few completely different selection of materials, extra cotton-based, it’s extra informal and so pricing displays that.
Pricing undoubtedly is one thing that issues us. All pure uncooked supplies have shot up and labour prices have elevated. So, it is a stability between product and having a good worth, a good worth. That’s why, when anyone comes into our retailers, it’s so essential that they meet workers who’re extremely educated and knowledgeable and passionate in regards to the high quality of product, which they’re.
Is there scope to develop the Margaret Howell enterprise considerably?
We’re a nice-sized enterprise, though not an enormous enterprise. There are many folks on the market that will love the model, however do not find out about it. Now we have by no means been into chasing sharp development. It’s been about slower sustainable development, which is able to proceed. Nonetheless, I definitely do assume there may be some stretch for us.
The quiet, thought-about, under-the-radar method has thus far been our advertising technique. We have simply re-platformed from the web site, which suggests we now have entry to a wider attain and extra potential prospects. Additionally, we now have a really small wholesale attain for an organization of our dimension. There’s alternative there, extra with impartial retailers more than likely. And we do, for instance, have a beautiful enterprise with Liberty in London.
A problem for each enterprise making an attempt to function responsibly and never over-produce, in fact, is how you can promote extra product after we’re usually saying, purchase this and it will final you ceaselessly, however that’s additionally the place new prospects are available.
How usually do you do collaborations?
It has been very sporadic and most frequently includes folks coming to us. This season we now have a collaboration with Japanese sportswear firm Mizuno. It has to really feel proper and that’s one thing the crew have a look at very rigorously.
My private opinion is you actually must know why you are doing a collaboration. It will possibly take various power and time. Out of the blue everyone’s focus is on the collaboration. I am all the time saying, think about enter versus output. Is it a advertising factor? Are we making an attempt to get a brand new buyer group? Or is it a industrial factor? Ideally it’s all of these, however you should perceive from the start what you need to get out of it.
We’re doing an fascinating collaboration with Blēo, a brand new Danish color home that’s working with plenty of influential folks within the design world. They requested Margaret to curate the color palette for a variety of paint, impressed by her love of coastal areas.
On homeware, we collaborate with plenty of makers and artists, like ceramicist Nicola Tassie, with whom we now have simply shot a brief movie.
With many of those tasks, there’s not a formulation. It’s intuition.
How essential to you is London Style Week?
We did LFW catwalk reveals for years however I consider it stopped due to COVID. It did not really feel proper to return to the reveals for varied causes, so we now make a static presentation in our lovely retailer in Place de la Madeleine throughout Paris Style Week, which loads of press come to see. We retain good connections with the British Style Council, and we’re concerned in issues with them on the sustainability and enterprise facet.
How do you appeal to new, youthful prospects?
Now we have older prospects who’ve grown with us as a result of they’ve been procuring with us for 30-plus years, MHL brings in a barely youthful buyer, and we now have devoted MHL retailers, comparable to in New Cavendish Road in London’s West Finish.
With the arrival of social media and digital advertising, the kind of issues we have been very quiet on previously, there are actually alternatives to achieve out to loads of completely different buyer teams to check who is perhaps .
Our places of work are behind the Wigmore Road flagship store, so I’m fortunate to be within the store lots, seeing the shoppers. Our youthful prospects are usually within the creative industries, 30-to-40-year-olds who’re creative administrators, architects, folks with a inventive mindset. We have to construct on these. That is our subsequent job. How do we discover and discuss to these like-minded prospects the model would possibly enchantment to?
Do you truly know who your prospects are?
I all the time joke about this as a result of with most manufacturers I’ve labored in, you may have your imaginative and prescient of the dream buyer, however while you do the analysis the solutions are considerably completely different. Our particular person shops have loyal prospects and the workers actually know their dimension and what they purchased earlier than. However usually, we have work to do on the info facet of that.
We will be part of up our retailers with our ecommerce so there will be one view of the client. If you happen to store on-line, then come within the retailer, we’ll have the ability to see what you have beforehand purchased. There’s loads of know-how to allow information evaluation, however we’re additionally going to go old-school and run some focus teams.
Now we have loads of very well-known individuals who store with us, however we received’t be on the lookout for superstar endorsements. That’s not why folks store with us.
Your womenswear sizing vary appears comparatively restricted, not all the time going to 16, not to mention something bigger…
That is one of many issues we’ve checked out since I have been right here. For spring-summer 25 ladies’s, all classes will go from 6 to 16. Beforehand it was solely provided in sure classes. And on males’s we have shifted the sizing down as a result of the suggestions mentioned it was arising very massive. Our shapes are usually not body-hugging, so there’s a beneficiant lower about them.
Margaret Howell, Wigmore Road, London
All of your UK retailers are in London. Are you planning to open elsewhere?
We’re fairly London-centric, that’s true, and I might like to see some shops additional north. I do know we now have a buyer base there. We would have a look at performing some pop-ups to check some areas.
There are many cities within the UK that may be fascinating, for Margaret Howell. That’s the place extra of a wholesale angle is available in and, to be sincere, that’s our subsequent step.
Outdoors the UK we’re under-represented within the US, which is our second on-line presence, so we now have a buyer base there we’d wish to serve.
Whereas on-line isn’t the identical procuring expertise as a result of it is good to the touch and really feel garments, at the very least with our on-line you understand you may be assured within the high quality and match. We do a tremendous factor the place each product has its full-size particulars on the web site.
What’s Margaret Howell as an organization good at?
That’s easy. We’re simply actually good at making lovely garments, in lovely materials which can be all the time match for goal. Margaret’s all the time been superb along with her material selection. The power of the corporate has been that kind of consistency. Additionally, we’re a very nice place to work.
How do you sum up the longer term prospects for Margaret Howell?
They’re nice. It is an organization that’s as fascinating and as related because it was when Margaret began it within the Nineteen Seventies. In each decade, it has been such a intelligent mixture of recent and purposeful clothes. With every thing that is occurring within the wider style world, we’re actually poised to be an organization that, if you need a white shirt, you assume Margaret Howell. If you would like a fantastic winter coat or jacket, you consider Margaret Howell. They need to be the items everybody aspires to have of their wardrobe.
With the give attention to sustainability and the necessity for change in that space, we’re already in the suitable area. After all, there’s all the time going to be excessive style, but when individuals are spending cash to spend money on a chunk, they need to belief it’s going to carry collectively and we consider that’s the place we are able to proceed to be essential. I am excited to guide the way forward for Margaret Howell.
Margaret Howell at a look
Based: 1970
UK staff: 115
Margaret Howell retailers: 4 in London, one in Paris, one in Florence.
MHL retailers: Three in London, one in Paris.
In Japan: 70-plus shops, run by proprietor TSI Holdings.
Concession: Liberty of London.
Manufacturing areas: Portugal 44%, UK 33%, Italy 18%, Japan 4%, Lithuania 1%.
Instagram: @margarethowellltd 270k followers.
Fb: @margarethowellltd 25k followers.
X: @margarethowell 8.4k followers.
www.margarethowell.co.uk
