LONDON — Zoë Jordan, one of London’s few homegrown contemporary brands, is shifting up a gear with plans to launch men’s and children’s wear and a customization service.
Men’s wear will launch at Harrods, Fenwick and on the brand’s web site on Nov. 1 while the children’s range — which includes bomber jackets — will debut on Nov. 15.
The product extensions come six years after the launch of the brand, which is known for its luxe knitwear and tracksuits won by the likes of Sienna Miller, Adwoa Aboah, Selena Gomez and Karlie Kloss.
“It is a very natural expansion of the brand,” said Jordan, adding that the men of all ages in her life always liked the tracksuits. “Then, we did men’s fashion week last season to test the market and we had a strong reaction.”
She said Harrods is one of her key stores for women’s wear and the retailer wanted to stock men’s wear, too. “Some of the feedback from the men’s side is that, often, up to 70 percent of the men’s products can be bought by women.”
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She’ll kick-start the customization service on Nov. 8 on the brand’s web site, with shoppers able to add their initials, select colors and choose the positioning of their initials. The brand plans to host one-off events with stores in the U.K. and U.S.
As for children’s wear, the designer said she is growing with her customer. “It makes sense to have the mini-version,” said Jordan. “I have three little girls and I like to dress them in a more gender-neutral way.”
Jordan designed a few bombers for her daughters and posted their images on Instagram. She now plans to launch the collection online.
“Again, it’s about trying to bring more people to our web site, said Jordan. “That is one area where we haven’t grown on the same scale as distribution so we need to start now bringing exclusive products to our web site. We can build up that database and that direct-to-consumer model. The kids, men’s and customization will all be more or less exclusive to the site.”
Prices range from 120 pounds for a beanie to 1,850 pounds for the Bear Run jacket.
An investment in the U.S. in 2015 has also been paying off. Although she showed at London Fashion Week until the fall 2014 season she now shows in New York, having ventured there starting with spring 2015. She staged a digital presentation during New York Fashion Week last year.
Jordan said that between 2015 and 2017, sales grew 267 percent. U.S. sales now contribute to more than 50 percent of total annual revenue. The bulk of the brand’s growth in the next two years will come from the U.S., Jordan added.
The designer said that the brand’s growth has been organic and that overall business has doubled over the past two years. The label is sold through 62 stores worldwide and in department stores including Harrods, Selfridges, Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodman, Bloomingdale’s, Moda Operandi and Shopbop.
New stockists this season include Intermix and Moda Boutique.
“A fairly straightforward approach to a fashion item that caters to that active lifestyle is something we’ve seen a lot of success with in the U.S.,” said Jordan.
“They’ve greeted it with open arms in particular in the last few seasons. What we’ve really noticed is the move from a one-piece jumper to sets. It’s almost like a new approach to suiting, in a knitwear form, like a modern tailoring.”
She said she’s planning to take on outside investment — but not for a while. “We just have to keep our heads down now for a couple more years before we start looking at any kind of bigger-picture stuff. In two years it would be nice to get a healthy figure so that then we could go out and start talking to some private equity guys,” said Jordan, adding that the brand will also be looking to open up to new geographies.