Paul Weller sets up crowdfund campaign to grow fashion label

Paul Weller and his business partner Phil Bickley have set up a Crowdcube campaign to raise £400,000 to expand their menswear label Real Stars Are Rare.

The singer/songwriter and former frontman of The Jam set up the label in 2014 with veteran retailer Bickley, owner of independent Notting Hill menswear boutique Tonic. It focuses on limited-run collections for fashion-conscious men from 25-55 and, with no investment in marketing, has turned over more than £400,000 since its launch.

"I used to go into Phil's shop, Tonic in the Portobello Road, and we got chatting and I was saying to him that I had always wanted to do a clothing brand and it just grew from there," Weller explained in the promotional video to support the Crowdcube campaign.

Weller and Bickley are now seeking to raise a further £400,000 (sacrificing an almost 17% equity share in exchange) via the investment platform and will use the funds for broadening the collection, refreshing the website/e-store, dedicated support in design and production, and marketing and advertising. The pair are predicting sales of £2m by 2021.

The collection, which as expected has a pared back Mod aesthetic, is currently only sold on the Real Stars Are Rare website and in Bickley's Tonic boutique. It centres on tailoring, knitwear, shirts, t-shirts and accessories with suits starting at £450 (the full price for a cotton double-breasted style), knitwear from £150 and t-shirts from £65.

Its Crowdcube campaign went live yesterday (24 February) and is open to friends and followers of the brand until Monday 27 February after which it opens to the general public for a month. At the time of writing it had raised more than £50,000.

The brand started life as part of Weller's record label Solid Bond Productions Limited but the pair have now formed Real Stars Are Rare Limited and all assets relating to the brand have been transferred into this new entity.