Philo Fix: Does the world need another ‘exclusive’ brand nobody sees?

After an extended wait, much anticipation and a fast sell out, the new eponymous brand from Phoebe Philo is born. The British designer has this week finally released her first drop of online-only womenswear and accessories. 

Formerly of Chloé and Celine, Philo inspires a niche, cultish-like following – the brand had already amassed 359,000 followers on Instagram before it had even posted anything.

Featuring 104 items, her brand's first runs the full product range from shoes to bags to ready-to-wear to jewellery and sunglasses with stratospheric pricing. Trench coats are priced £3,300 – a made-in-England Burberry trench, by comparison, is priced at £1,900 – an XL leather tote is £6,200 and a 'caviar shearling’ costs £12,000 – and that's not to mention a viscose ‘hand-combed embroidered coat’ with 'price on application'.

Minimally branded clothing produced in minimal quantities at maximal prices – will anybody actually ever see these clothes and accessories? Does the world need yet another ‘quiet luxury’ brand that produces exclusive fashion for crazy prices with zero branding? Or is that the point?

Brands need awareness, particularly new ones, and they also need cash flow. You need money going through the business to drive growth. You also need product to get into people’s hands. Many consumers are like sheep and covet what other people already have, no matter how cool and individual they think they are. People have to see it.

Image: PP

Phoebe Philo is online only, for now, with no wholesale. There is no branding with only discreet labelling inside. Apart from a few selling spikes when these different drops are released, what’s the bigger goal in brand creation and the subsequent sales growth?

The giant luxury fashion group LVMH has a minority stake in the Phoebe Philo brand, and eventually they’ll want to see growth and return on investment. The days of a slow burn brand are over. Being the coolest girl in the room isn’t enough.

It feels like this brand needs a small, £900 entry-type bag or distinct accessory for people to buy into and drive sales. She’s charging Chanel/Hermès prices while keeping it real by shooting the lookbook herself with an iPhone – she can be seen reflected in the new oversized wraparound sunglasses on her website.

There is indeed a customer who just wants beautiful clothes that are cut contemporarily and have zero branding. But what’s the provenance of these pieces? At these prices, people want pedigree and for you to own the factory it's made in or at least name it. There is also an expectation of some sort of sustainability or ethical information today.

The prices are so high there isn’t even a decent margin for the resellers. (It is yet to be seen on resale sites, but then it hasn’t been delivered yet.) The ‘MUM’ necklace and fringed trousers are the only instantly recognisable product and will feature in future fashion editorials and be swooned over by editors.

Image: PP

The website is currently showing a lot of red filters for sold out product, but it would be interesting to see the quantities that were produced for each, but it’s clever to be tight on inventory for your first collection. You want demand larger than supply.

Many wider consumers won’t even know who Philo is, much like Tom Ford when he left Gucci (though he went on to become widely recognised but largely due to his fragrances and sunglasses). It will take time within the wider market if it wants to be a ‘brand’ rather than an insider, discreet, made-to-order clothes supplier for the world’s top 1%. And even the world’s top 1% has plenty of choices and many brands chasing them.

Phoebe Philo’s first collection – the next comes in the spring – looks good. It is exactly what the Kool-Aid drinking fan club wanted and expected. She’s pressed ‘go’ on the brand and is now on the fashion treadmill of producing product no matter how she wants to do it.

Phoebe Philo left French fashion house Celine after 10 years in 2017. A lot has changed in the past seven years. Fashion has become faster and more competitive. Collaborations are the main drivers of interest and news. Consumers expect lots of product. It could be worth her approaching an H&M type to really launch the brand globally through a huge launch and harness the desire from people who can’t afford these prices involved. She’s probably too cool for that, but it would signal an openness to try new things and inclusivity.

The Phoebe Philo brand was first announced in summer of 2021 with a launch date of January 2022. Over 21 months later, it is here and it looks like it will satisfy those who remember her, but is it anything new and how will it scale if it continues in this model?