A tiny store in London demonstrates the convergence of two important new retail trends… Around the corner from Harrods in Knightsbridge on a small side street is a unique retail environment: the Anya Hindmarch Bespoke store. In one store visitors can see the convergence of two important trends: Authenticity and Customisation. Anya Hindmarch is a 42-year old UK fashion designer, famous for her handbags and accessories. Hindmarch created her Bespoke store at the height of
of the Global Financial Crisis. Bespoke simply means “tailored for the individual”, and the premise of the store is that it allows customers to have a hand in creating a bag, piece of jewellery, diary or keepsake that is completely unique and personal.
The store feels like it has been around for 100 years, when in fact it has been open less than 12 months. From the outside, rather than a standard store sign, there hangs a handbag fashioned from metal and a pair of scissors. Ankle-level plaques in black and gold advertise some of the products and services within – ‘Made to Measure Wallet Service’, ‘The Famous Two-Way Journal’, ‘Leather Albums Hand Made’. It’s like you’ve been transported to a different England, one comfortingly in less of a hurry than the present one.
Step inside and the illusion continues. There are glass display cases and leather inlaid tables, visual merchandising touches like hot metal type and antique scissors, and the whimsy of a stuffed squirrel clutching a purse. Off to one side there is a workshop where the product is customised. It felt like my grandfather’s backyard workshop from more than four decades ago.
The authenticity of the offer carries through to one of the jewellery boxes on display, which is customised with a picture of Hindmarch’s own grandmother.
This is a world away from Wal-Mart, cookie-cutter retail and disposable fashion. Hindmarch sells products here that are designed to keep, not covet for a minute then throw away.
“The idea (is) that something has your name on it – not mine,” says Hindmarch, “And that you will hand it down from generation to generation.”
And so you choose a handbag and have engraved in gold type a personal message, such as “To my best friend and partner in crime. Well done us! xxx me.”
What can a store that sells handbags for thousands of pounds teach us about retail? Quite a lot, actually. Authenticity and Customisation are two mega-trends that are coursing their way through retail right now. More and more, customers want real stories, not just stores. And they want to put their stamp on the products they buy. Perhaps that’s why Anya Hindmarch Bespoke won the Conde Nast Design & Innovation Award this year.
* Jon Bird is CEO of specialist retail marketing company, IdeaWorks (www.ideaworks.com.au) and a participant in the 2010 Westfield World Retail Study Tour. Email jon.bird@ideaworks.com.au. This feature first appeared in Inside Retailing Magazine. Click here to subscribe.
