Editors' Top Reads: News from Selfridges, M&S, Lone Design Club and more...
Here are some of this week’s news and features highlights handpicked by TheIndustry.fashion team.
The Interview: Lone Design Club's founder and CEO on the 'power of physical retail'
When Rebecca Morter, the Founder and CEO of Lone Design Club (LDC), launched her fashion label in 2015, she experienced the highs of industry success - BFC backing, celebrity fans and strong press coverage. But turning attention into sustainable sales proved challenging. While wholesale offered brand visibility, it also came with constraints that made it hard for early-stage labels to scale profitably. After her trials and tribulations, she realised the "power of physical retail".
In this interview, Morter discussed the driving force behind her mission to revolutionise physical retail. Through pop-ups and now permanent flexible retail concepts like its new 'Local Hero' store in Brighton, LDC is giving digital-first, values-led brands the tools and space to thrive offline.
As retail shifts toward experience, community and flexibility, LDC’s model shows how physical space can still deliver meaningful growth for small brands. Morter’s vision is helping redefine the role of bricks-and-mortar in an omnichannel world, making this a vital story about the future of retail and the empowerment of independents.
Chloé Burney, Senior News & Features Writer.
Selfridges secures permission for private members' club: is this the future for luxury retail?
Are private members' club models the future for luxury retail? They could be. This week, Selfridges secured planning permission for 40 Duke, a new private members' club that is set to open at its London flagship during 2026.
The club will be located in a 1930s extension to the original Selfridges building and will feature a bar, private dining and an outdoor terrace. It will be open from breakfast until the early hours of the next morning. Members will be invited to join from Selfridges' top customer list and presumably from a pool of other taste-makers and names to know.
The club will be accessible from the street but also from the store during opening hours, so the hope will be that high net-worth members will pick up some gifts to self on their way to the exclusive hang-out.
This is a fascinating move and heralds a new approach to luxury retail. Selfridges secured the permission just weeks after it was rumoured that Frasers Group is looking to revive the Matches brands as a private members club where invited guests, who will be vetted in a similar way to those of Soho House or The Arts Club for instance, will be able to shop and mingle well away from the general public.
It could be that Frasers re-opens the former Matches town house in Carlos Place Mayfair as the home of the new club. The plans haven't been confirmed but an internal pitch deck seen by The Times suggests it could open at the end of this year.
As luxury takes a downturn and consumers divert spend to hospitality and experiences, this all makes perfect sense, and I expect to see more of this in the near future.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
M&S’s cyber attack boosted fashion sales at rivals including NEXT and ZARA
It was interesting to see the report this week that part of the fall-out of the cyber attack on M&S was that it actually gave a boost to sales at high street rivals including NEXT, ZARA and H&M, according to data, insights and consulting company Kantar.
It was such a shame for M&S, which has been doing a sterling job on turning around its fashion business, with sales soaring by 11.5% in the three months prior to the attack.
The M&S website usually accounts for about a third of its fashion sales, but Kantar’s figures show the impact of the cyber attack, which happened over the Easter weekend back in April, meant sales fell by a fifth year-on-year in the four weeks to 25 May, while online sales didn’t fully restart until 10 June.
That’s a long time for competitors to benefit, and a major hit to overall SS25 sales – especially now the summer Sales are in full swing, with bargains galore and margins slashed.
M&S did say that its fashion sales in-store remained strong during the disruption, particularly as customers sought out products that they couldn’t order online but, as reported by the BBC, it’s estimated that the cyber attack could hit this year’s profits at M&S by around £300m - a figure that would only partially be covered by any insurance payout.
Add to that, it’s customer trust that will have been deeply scarred, especially since the retailer confirmed (on 13 May) that personal customer data had been stolen as part of the cyber attack.
M&S did stress the data did not include payment/card details or passwords and was not believed to have been shared online. But, while M&S will be tightening up its online security tenfold, who will be the next high street giant to be hit – and how long before card details and passwords do fall into the wrong hands?
Also, if a major high street player which invests heavily to protect its online business and its customers’ details can be hit so hard, how easy will it become for the hackers to get payment details and passwords from smaller online players who don’t have the same capability to fight back?
Tom Bottomely, Contributing Editor.
The Interview: Hayley Sullivan on bringing her tech-enabled styling service The Styled By Collective to the UK
LA-based stylist and tastemaker Hayley Sullivan is bringing her exclusive stying service, The Styled By Collective, to the UK this month and suitably well-heeled customers are invited to apply to be a customer.
In the US, Sullivan counts politicians, showbiz royalty and international business figures as its customers. The service blends the personal touch with technology to fully catalogue clients' wardrobes, identify the pieces that are worn or little worn and helps them make considered choices when it comes to new purchase. The platform works with brands to offer exclusive pieces and it can help clients resell products that they no longer use.
Sullivan believes luxury clients have been overwhelmed by choice and underserved by personalisation, and she is seeking to fill that gap. It's a clever concept and it another riff on the move to private members' clubs for VIP luxury consumers, see above news from Selfridges.
We were lucky enough to secure an exclusive interview with Sullivan.
Lauretta Roberts, Co-founder, CEO and Editor-in-Chief.
