Harrys of London Creative Director Graeme Fidler on attracting a younger customer and elevating the brand
In spring 2021 luxury men’s footwear and accessories company Harrys of London announced Graeme Fidler as its new Creative Director, assuming control of all aspects of the brand, encompassing product design and development through to campaigns, tone of voice and a re-brand to Harrys London for his first collection – for AW22.
Fidler very much sees it as a real opportunity to take the brand up a notch and, not only play on what has made it successful so far with its existing customer base, but to introduce it to a younger customer with some game-changing new products that merge comfort and technology with tradition.
A highly respected and commercially accomplished designer with international experience, Fidler cut his teeth in the fashion business at Nigel Cabourn in 1997 in his placement “year in industry” while studying at Northumbria University in Newcastle, where he won a Royal Society For Arts Bursary.
His journey includes a design role at Ralph Lauren in New York followed by several years as Design Director at Aquascutum. There he injected fresh ideas into the heritage British brand with some outstanding outerwear, as well as introducing made in Italy footwear and accessories.
From there a Creative Director role at Bally beckoned to make it “much more of a global outfit” with a real focus on the shoes, though the accessories were also important and the ready to wear clothes were what he describes as “the accessory to the accessories.” Within his first year, Fidler and his 12-strong design team helped to grow the business by 40%. Impressive indeed.
He also launched his own brand, called Several, under his Several Services consultancy business, which was shelved after two years but is something he may well return to one day (the Several Services agency is still going strong). Now though his focus is firmly on transforming Harrys London into a bigger global luxury player.
“After initially working with them on a part-time design consultancy basis I realised that this brand really has legs. It just needed to get a bit of a point of view,” said Fidler.
The Harrys of London business was founded back in 2001 with the idea to “marry a beautiful formal upper with a relative technical and sporty sole unit.” Fidler’s aim is build on that with fresh ideas and new design technology.
“My first collection is for AW22, which we recently launched at wholesale. We’ve had the likes of Saks, Browns, Matches, Harrods and Selfridges in to look at it, and we’ve got MR PORTER coming in, so we’ve had a really good response so far.
“I gave a new feel to the showroom, which was paramount, and we’re probably going to extend that to the stores between July – September, which is when we will be fully launching to the public. We’ll also then be under the new Harrys London branding, which I think will pave the way for new business.”
Fidler describes Harrys of London as a relatively small business and “quite unknown”, but some interesting analytics emerged when he looked in to what kind of people were visiting the website which suggested some 30% were aged between 23-32. “But that younger customer isn’t purchasing, and that’s the opportunity for us. So, we’re going to overhaul the website and open up the product lines. We’re actually raising the bar at the top end, but we’re opening it up a little bit at the bottom end as well.”
In the new collection there’s a Chelsea boot, a Derby shoe, a loafer and “a new sneaker group with the luxe factor,” while other new design developments include two new sole units with Vibram, and a new Technogel insole. Fidler also says they are currently working with some specialists on Harley Street to develop their footwear technology. “I love innovation, and I’m all about the future, but I also love heritage, so I’m now using a lot of my previous experience. The best way to put it is Harrys meets Jermyn Street.”
Harrys of London currently has two standalone stores in London, at 14 Motcomb Street, SW1, and 13A Grafton Street, W1, and one store in New York at 463 Park Avenue, and there are plans afoot for another retail space. “We are currently looking at opening another London store, which could be as early as July/August,” offered Fidler. “That will be really exciting.”
Accessories are also brand new, though Harrys of London has dabbled with them a couple of times in the past. “Accessories is a difficult market,” said Fidler. “You certainly don’t need to be going to market with a hundred options. In order to bolster our offer, and have our stores become that little bit more interesting, I think it’s important to do a very tight and focused bag line and a very tight and small leather goods line. And that’s what we’ve done.”
