This year saw us delve into the minds of some of fashion’s most interesting characters who are shaping the future of the industry. As we are about to step into 2025, here’s TheIndustry.fashion’s selection of top 10 interviews – with plenty more being lined up for the New Year.
The Interview: Peter Alexander on bringing his pyjamas and unique approach to retail to the UK
TheIndustry.fashion’s co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief, Lauretta Roberts, headed to Westfield Lonson for the grand opening of Peter Alexander’s new store, the first of three to open in the UK in November, with the others at Westfield Stratford and Bluewater in Kent. She met the man behind the brand and got a real insight into how the popular Australian pyjama company – with the Penny the Dachshund logo (a tribute to Alexander’s former beloved pet) – ticks. When there’s so much doom and gloom on the high street, Alexander’s infectious optimism and unique approach to retail makeS for a fun read. He discusses how he got where he is today, from humble beginnings in the 1980s as a mail order business to operating 135 stores across Australia and New Zealand and now looking at kicking on with retail expansion here.
The Eric Musgrave Interview: How Caroline Attwood is growing the quiet consistency of Margaret Howell
It’s amazing to think that the now 78-year-old Margaret Howell started her eponymous brand back in 1970, originally assisted by her then-husband Paul Renshaw, making high-quality men’s shirts, which turned out to be popular with women too. Of course, it grew into so much more, but its “restrained, practical and beautiful” clothes remain at the core. Our contributing writer, Eric Musgrave, caught up with former CEO of Ally Capellino, Commercial Director at Anya Hindmarch and Head of Sales at Mulberry, Caroline Attwood, who’s been steering the ship as Margaret Howell’s Managing Director since February, following former MD Richard Craig’s retirement. Attwood talks about the prospects for growth for such a specialised and revered brand as Margaret Howell, and begs the question why it has taken others in the fashion industry so long to wake up to Howell’s sustainable “slow luxury” approach.
The Eric Musgrave Interview: Why Strathberry founders have bags of confidence
In another of Eric Musgrave’s intriguing ‘on the road’ interviews, we heard from Strathberry founders Leeanne and Guy Hundleby, with its popular handbags seeing sales leap by 40% in the past year to reach an impressive £40 million. Eric headed to the luxury Scottish brand’s Edinburgh HQ for an in-depth account of how the husband-and-wife team have managed to sidestep the woes affecting much of the luxury and premium accessories sector. They reveal their deep passion for the business, why they make all their bags in Spain, and why they intend to once again stress their Scottish roots more obviously.
The Eric Musgrave Interview: Paul Platt of Midlands menswear mini-chain Pockets
With so many once-mighty UK menswear independents falling to the sword – or into the hands of Frasers Group – in recent years, it’s great to see that Midlands mini-chain Pockets is still thriving and holding off the spread of Flannels, with its own premium brand offer continuing to strike a chord with its loyal customer base. Eric Musgrave headed to the main store in the centre of Shrewsbury to talk to Pockets founder Paul Platt, who runs the business with fellow director Mark Taylor. The dynamic buying duo is often seen trawling the halls at Pitti Uomo in Florence for the latest must-have premium menswear finds. Eric hears all about Platt’s background – including how he got started in the business, why he hasn’t sold out to Frasers like so many have, why he is now adding womenswear to Pockets, and why he’s actively looking to open more shops to add to the current four (the others being in Nantwich, Newcastle-under-Lyme and Hanley).
The Interview: Matt Shotton, Head of 247 by Represent on growing the fitness meets high fashion brand
Matt Shotton only joined luxury streetwear brand Represent to head up its fast-growing, performance-focused 247 sub-brand in July, but with a past that includes senior roles at both Adidas and Nike, the brand knew it was getting someone of the right pedigree. A good job too, as the master plan is for 247 to account for 20% of Represent’s overall sales in the next two years. Shotton certainly talks the talk of a man on a mission to our Contributing Editor, Tom Bottomley. We hear all about how his past roles are helping to shape his strategy for 247, plans for international growth, retail expansion, selecting the right brand ambassadors, and the brand’s “unrelenting focus on community”.
The Interview: Patrick Grant of Norton & Sons and Community Clothing on Savile Row, sustainability and Sewing Bee
It’s fair to say that Patrick Grant is very good at juggling jobs. Most people will probably know him as the popular co-host and judge on the BBC’s ‘The Great British Sewing Bee’ – a role he’s exceeded in since the first series in 2013. Tom Bottomley caught up with him earlier this year to talk about that amongst a host of other things, including two very different books he has brought out this year, ‘The Savile Row Suit’, which invites readers into the inner sanctum of Savile Row (he is still a Director of tailoring business Norton & Sons), and ‘Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier’, which is really the premise behind his Community Clothing brand. Fascinating stuff from a very busy man.
The Interview: Gymshark founder Ben Francis on driving growth as it opens second UK store
Gymshark founder and CEO Ben Francis is very much the man of the moment as his brand continues to flex its muscles with a retail rollout gathering pace. In July, Tom Bottomley chatted to Francis ahead of the opening of its store at Westfield Stratford City. That was store number two, adding to the flagship it opened on London’s Regent Street in 2022. Since the summer we’ve learnt of more openings planned for 2025, including a store at Westfield White City, another at the Trafford Centre in Manchester, one in The Kalverstraat in Amsterdam and a flagship in New York. Francis reveals how he got started when he was 18 by screen-printing T-shirts in 2012, how he has built the business, what Gymshark’s best sellers are, planned international growth – particularly in the US – and how the ‘We Do Gym’ campaign was so important to reaffirm the brand’s DNA and its core market.
The Interview: Christopher Donnelly, co-founder of Gio Goi, tells us all about his new brand, Rules of Faith
Quite a character is co-founder of cult Manchester streetwear label Gio Goi, Christopher Donnelly. Tom Bottomley caught up with him in October to touch on his past, but more importantly to discuss his new luxury streetwear brand, Rules of Faith, and its launch in Selfridges that was two years in the making. The brand is “|a groundbreaking fusion of art, tech and fashion with garments that feature first-to-market integrated technology” – allowing customers to become part of the brand’s exclusive community, or ‘Congregation’ as it is being called. Hoodies with luxurious velvet-lined hoods have chips in them that can be updated with new information and invites, which makes them somewhat unique to each individual customer. It’s intriguing indeed and, with Donnelly’s extensive contacts in the worlds of fashion, music and sport, you can bet it’s got legs.
The Interview: Dune’s Daniel Rubin on becoming a high street legend while the industry shrinks
Daniel Rubin has been at the helm of British footwear own-brand chain Dune London since he launched it with a concession of “dressy shoes” in Debenhams in 1992. He tells his and the brand’s story from those early days, including opening the first Dune store at 37A King’s Road in London in 1993, to TheIndustry.fashion’s Senior News & Features Writer, Chloe Burney, who paid him a visit at the brand’s HQ. It’s very much a story of survival, especially given that the COVD-inflicted lockdowns saw the company enter a CVA in 2020. However, it did return to profit in 2022, and Rubin has overseen the recent opening of a new concept store at Lakeside shopping centre, which is now being rolled out to “fewer and better stores in key locations”, including the new flagship store at Westfield London. He also talks about how the footwear sector has become very fragmented, with a lot of specialists leaving the industry because it’s smaller, perhaps adding to his own surviving ‘high street legend’ status. It’s a riveting read.
The Interview: Luxe Collective’s Ben Gallagher on tapping into the luxury resale market
This is one for the young up-and-coming entrepreneurs out there as TheIndustry.fashion’s Chloe Burney sits down with Ben Gallagher, co-founder of Luxe Collective, which has become one of the go-to places for luxury ‘re-commerce’, including vintage gems, handbags and cult classic designer sneakers. Ben founded the business six years ago when he was just 17, along with his then 21-year-old brother, Joe, with a pot of just £1,200. They built it to be a business worth over £5 million in that time, no doubt significantly helped by catching the eye of businessman Steven Bartlett on Dragons Den, who invested £100,000 for a 3% cut. They did, however, suffer a major blow to the business when, literally the day before the interview took place, Luxe Collective’s warehouse was broken into and £500,000 worth of inventory (approximately 50% of what it owned) was robbed. In true fighting fashion, Ben said: “However devastating it is, this will not stop us, this will make us stronger.” His steely determination to succeed shines through in this cracking interview.
