2. 76 sportswear international march 2013
>
EMMA HOLMQVIST, LONDON AND STOCKHOLM
CORRESPONDENT, HAS WORKED FOR SI SINCE
ISSUE #195 (2004)
Has it really been almost a decade since I was
appointed London and Stockholm Correspondent at
SI? I remember my first big assignment as if it were
yesterday–I was requested to write a piece on native
dress in Scotland and Scandinavia as part of a wider
global feature to appear in issue #195. This project
helped me to grasp what SI is all about–no stone
is left unturned to gather in-depth research for the
international readership the magazine targets. Nothing
has changed, and I hope to remain part of the SI family
in decades to come.
HOPTO THE SHOP
London, my hometown since
1994, is one of the best shop-
ping spots in the world, and I
never tire of flicking through
the rails at Shop at Bluebird,
Liberty and Dover Street Mar-
ket. LN-CC is another favorite;
it stocks a vast range of hard-
to-find labels such as Toga,
Fleet Ilya, Kolor,Von Sono, and
Ava Catherside–whose outfit
is pictured.The online shop
impresses as much as the
appointment-only physical
store, which has just bene-
fited from a revamp involving
a new product room, a set of
fresh fitting rooms and a new
bar area that might come in
handy should you need to
numb your post-spending
angst with a stiff drink.
TASTYTREATS
Fashion Week invites can sometimes be more
compelling than the shows themselves. My
all-time favorite is Mulberry’s ice cream wa-
fer variant, which plays a nostalgic ice cream
van tune upon opening.The surreal invention
is the brainchild of designer Sarah Thorne,
who has also created Topshop’s covetable
makeup range packaging.
GRANNY,PLEASE…
I have always cast envious glances at my
soon to be 100-year-old Granny’s threadbare
Lappväska (sami bag). She told me to get my
own at Sameslöjdstiftelsen in Jokkmokk.
I have already fallen for Pia Jannok’s hand-
crafted designs (pictured).They are fashioned
from reindeer leather and feature traditional
tin thread embroidery, just like Granny’s bag.
sameslöjdstiftelsen.com
EAR CANDY
During a recent conversation with Fred Perry’s MD John Flynn,it emerged that hyperactive buskers permanently surround thebrand’s Covent Garden office, which presumably renders thestaff iTunes list redundant. Flynn’s personal favorite is a youngman who uses a plastic traffic cone as an instrument. I went tosee (and hear) for myself, and Flynn is right, this is a musicianwith some talent. Not surprisingly, there are several videos ofthe Cone Busker on YouTube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3zUKtWrDkE

3. 82 sportswear international march 2013
> The menswear scene is changing; what
used to be a relatively neglected industry
is shaping up to be as lucrative as the
womenswear sector. Jason Broderick, head
of menswear at Harrods, has noticed a major
shift in the past few years, and the menswear
floors of the world-famous store have been
duly revamped to meet demand. “In the old
days, women shopped for their boyfriends and
husbands; today they shop for themselves,”
he says. “Men are informed and genuinely
interested in fashion, and most significantly,
they worry about the size of their bums, too.”
That nagging concern has served the industry
well. Men’s apparel items now represent 50%
of the luxury fashion market–boosted in part
by healthy spending in Asia–and according to
research carried out by Mintel, it will witness
growth of 16% between 2011 and 2016.
The man of today doesn’t only spend more
on fashion, he is also likely to reach for more
adventurous designs.“It always surprises me
that the most flamboyant pieces in the Topman
Design collection are those that sell the best
nowadays,” says Gordon Richardson, design
and development director at Topman. What is
behind the shift in male consumer behavior
and how will it develop? “I think we have only
seen the beginning of the peacock era. The
movement actually started about 30 years ago
but has progressed to become the commercial
reality it is today,” says trend consultant Henrik
Mattsson, owner of Bloc Framtidsforsking.
“Men have grasped the fact that looking
modern and groomed can help them secure a
better job and partner. It makes them appear
strong and impressive, so ultimately it is about
survival of the fittest.” An aspect that will help
secure future growth, according to Mattsson, is
the increasing focus on technical materials and
features–elements that tend to appeal to men.
MARCH OF THE PEACOCKS
MEN TODAY DEMAND THE
LATEST LOOKS AND THE
INDUSTRY IS REINVENTING
ITSELF ACCORDINGLY.
NOWADAYS MEN ARE INFORMED
AND INTERESTED IN FASHION - AND
SURPRINSINGLY THEY GO FOR THE
EXTRAVAGANT PIECES. (LONDON FASHION
WEEK A/W 2013-14 J.W. ANDERSON).
All facets of the industry have taken active
steps to capitalize on the booming menswear
sector. Designers celebrated for their strong
womenswear ranges have started cutting
suits and slacks; Christopher Kane, Richard
Nicoll and Jonathan Saunders are only
but a few names that have launched full
menswear collections in the past few seasons.
Meanwhile, some of the most highly regarded
retail concepts are menswear-led–London
department store Selfridges’ newly opened
men’s shoe floor is awe-inspiring for its sheer
size alone. Designed by Belgian architect
Vincent van Duysen, the space stretches
across 10,000 sq. feet (929 sq. meters) and
serves up 3,000 styles ranging from Lanvin
low-top sneakers to Ugg Australia sheepskin
slippers. Adding further diversity to the
men’s retail landscape, Burberry opened its
first men’s store in October last year, while
Alexander McQueen’s menswear space landed
on Savile Row at about the same time.
Skeptics who doubted men would ever warm
to buying clothes online have been proven
wrong. Online luxury purveyor Mr Porter has
become something of an institution, while
Swedish men’s e-tailer Tres Bien Shop has
seen sales increase by 68% over the past two
years. “It’s obvious that men shop for more
than toasters online and our customers have
become a lot more daring in their tastes while
they’re also prepared to pay more for an item;
the emphasis is on exclusive, fashion-driven
pieces,” says Jakob Törnberg of Tres Bien
Shop. Törnberg has also observed that men
increasingly put more items in their virtual
baskets than they intend to keep, which
indicates they’ve taken cue from women’s
return-heavy shopping habits. This is one
aspect of the peacock saga that might not
be so favorable.
PHOTO:RORYVANMILLINGEN

4. 80 sportswear international march 2013
OUT OF THE FOG
LONDON’S FASHION AND
RETAIL SCENE IS EVER
EVOLVING, AND ITS YOUNG
DESIGNERS–MANY OF WHOM
EXPERIMENT WITH DENIM–
ARE IN INCREASING DEMAND.
UK FASHION INDUSTRY FACTS
The direct value of the UK fashion
industry to the UK economy is £21
billion and major export markets
are the US, Japan, Russia, France,
Italy, Middle East, Hong Kong and
China. The industry is similar in size
to the food/beverages services and
telecommunications industries.
Furthermore, it is estimated to
support 816,000 jobs and is the
largest employer of all creative
industries. The UK is renowned for
having the best fashion colleges in
the world including St. Martins and
Royal College of Art.
FROM LEFT: LONDON’S YOUNG DESIGNERS SHOW THEIR TALENTS:
MARQUES ALMEIDA, CHRISTOPHER KANE, ALEX MATTSON AND PALMER//HARDING.
> If the international fashion industry were
a family, London would be the disheveled
cousin who’s never been near a hairbrush but
has a head full of ideas. But this hotbed of
creativity, as the accurate but clichéd label
of London reads, has demonstrated that it
can be commercially viable even in tough
times. In January 2013, news broke that PPR
had acquired a 51% stake in the eponymous
label of Christopher Kane, the Scottish
wunderkind and toast of London Fashion
Week. Significantly, this is the first time a
luxury conglomerate has bought a RTW brand
since the start of the recession.
There was a time when international buyers
steered clear of young London designers on
the grounds that they lacked business sense
but the situation has improved and they are
now sought-after by key retailers around the
world. The Stockholm-based multibrand store
Nitty Gritty currently stocks Preen and Palmer/
Harding, a label which focuses its efforts on
the humble shirt, but designs it in an entirely
new way using pleats, contrast paneling and
unexpected embellishments such as cork
and rubber coated metal hardware. “The
London designers we carry possess invaluable
qualities, their work is of high quality and
they add a new dimension and a sense of
playfulness to our concept,” says Cecilia
Steiner, Nitty Gritty’s womenswear buyer.
“London has always been an important fashion
spot, and although the level of inventiveness is
never constant and tend to move from city to
city, it certainly feels as if London harbors the
greatest creativity right now,” observes Steiner.
In the past few seasons, a number of labels
have made their mark with strong denim
offerings, typically with an experimental
and fashion-driven edge. Royal College of
Art alumni Alex Mattson presented his fifth
menswear range during London Collections:
Men–the city’s own, and very worthwhile,
men’s fashion week. Drawing on the large-
scale immigration of the Latin community
to California in 1940s America, Mattsson
fused references of kitsch-Americana with
post-war gangster culture–a formula that
resulted in an eclectic mix of zoot suits,
workwear silhouettes and South American-
inspired styles such as baggy jeans and denim
dungarees, both of which were crafted from
gray hemp denim. “I love everything about
denim,” enthuses Mattsson. “The history and
traditions, the way it wears, the indigo color,
the ruggedness, the softness. It’s one of the
few materials that actually gets better the
more you wear it. When working with denim,
I like to respect the traditional techniques,
finishes and cuts, but I also set out to
challenge them. I think of it as an evolution,
not a revolution.”
Marques Almeida is another emerging London
name with similar inclinations. The label’s
signature “neo-grunge” aesthetic has recently
materialized in distressed, asymmetrically cut
garments with heavily frayed edges. In what
way do Marta Marques and her design partner
Paulo Almeida–who met while studying at
St Martins–utilize denim to express their
vision? “From our viewpoint, denim relates
to the rawness of our design aesthetic and
authenticity, and it has a strong link with
street style which is a crucial source of
inspiration to us,” says Marques. “We have
been working with denim with the aim of
maintaining its true essence and roughness
and at the same time making it modern and
relevant to fashion now.”
But not all London designers with a penchant
for denim adopt trends. Artisanal label Fallow
steers clear of seasonal reinvention and
centers instead on a perennial selection of
handcrafted jeans and shirts made in the
UK. “Fallow is responding to the seasons
in London...or rather, the lack of definition
thereof,” deadpans co-owner Bronagh Keegan.
“In the same way a microbrewery works hard
to perfect its brew, we have worked hard to
perfect our denim. Why go changing it every
season? We aren’t about fast fashion, quite the
contrary, we are constant–constantly autumn.”
Once in a while, a new item does appear; the
most recent addition is a selvedge work shirt,
and a new colorway is available for the waxed
denim cape shirt–a Fallow trademark design.
In line with the local design contingent, the
retail scene of London is never dormant and
the city has updated its shopping landscape to
flaunt everything from innovative multibrand
concepts to shoe departments of record-
breaking dimensions. The area that has seen
the headiest transformation is East London,
and although the actual spots regarded as
truly hip keep shifting (forget Hoxton, and
the once so alluringly gritty Dalston is being
overrun by property developers and yummy
mummies) Redchurch Street in Shoreditch
still holds its appeal as far as shopping
destinations go, at least for the time being.
Stores by the likes of Sunspel, Aesop and
Maison Trois Garcons line the modest little
stretch tucked away behind Bethnal Green
Road. A.P.C. opened a pop-up store on the
street in 2010 and recently moved into a
permanent space designed by architect
Laurent Deroo, the man behind Dover
Street Market. Redchurch Street is also the
home of Hostem, the esteemed menswear
establishment. With Dickensian-like interiors
created by design duo Jamesplumb, the store
bridges the gap between art installation
and shopping, while the actual retail recipe
keeps evolving. The freshly launched Hostem
Bespoke project–which is housed within the
store’s Chalk Room area–serves as something
of a nucleus of London creativity as it brings
together local talent across the areas of
clothing, accessories, travel goods and interior
design. The designers that have been invited to
create bespoke and made-to-measure pieces
for Hostem’s customers are Casely-Hayford,
Fleet Ilya, Globe-Trotter, Jamesplumb and
Sebastian Tarek. How did the idea come about
to introduce a permanent space dedicated to
bespoke services? “We noticed that a large
number of our customers requested to have
items bought in-store altered or tweaked, and
this made us determined to find a solution,”
says Hostem partner Mark Quinn. “Bespoke
services have been around for hundreds
of years; what’s unique about the Hostem
Bespoke project is the fact that it houses and
curates a group of London artisans in a single
environment, giving their services a platform to
exist outside of closed doors. We feel that this
is a project that has no barriers or boundaries
and most definitely something we will be
looking to expand with new and interesting
collaborators over the coming year.” London
certainly has enough talent to choose from.