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.

It was through hosting her own trunk shows - selling directly to customers and seeing the community that formed around the brand - that Morter recognised the untapped power of physical retail done differently. That realisation laid the foundation for LDC, a platform dedicated to helping independent, digital-first brands break into bricks-and-mortar retail through agile, pop-up formats.

Today, LDC has helped over 3,500 brands access retail space, partnering with major landlords to reimagine how physical shopping can support discovery, creativity and connection.

TheIndustry.fashion spoke to Morter about how LDC is shaping the future of omnichannel retail, why community lies at the heart of every great shopping experience and its new 'Local Hero' pop-up that opened in Brighton this week.

What inspired you to launch Lone Design Club, did you see a gap in the market at the time?

In 2015, I launched my own brand with incredible support from the BFC and amazing champions like Lady Gaga, Jessie J and Little Mix. The press and exposure were fantastic, but here's the reality - great coverage doesn't automatically translate to customers parting with cold hard cash.

Selling to physical stockists was brutal - margins were razor-thin, the discounting, minimum orders and pressure for high sell-throughs made it more of a marketing exercise than a commercially viable business. What changed everything were our trunk shows. Sales were incredible, but more importantly, the relationships we built with our customers were extraordinary. These women weren't just buying products - they were becoming part of something, helping us learn what they wanted, building a genuine tribe. It was an experience you couldn't get online or from big institutional retailers.

That's when I realised the power of physical retail.

But I couldn't afford a permanent store. The barrier to entry was impossibly high - too expensive, too convoluted, couldn't even get in the room, let alone work out who the landlord was or what agent to talk to. This challenge wasn't just mine - it was universal. There was no access to physical retail despite the obvious potential and value. So I set out to change this and built LDC with one clear goal: get digital brands into physical retail. We've now helped over 3,500 brands into retail spaces and worked with 18 of the UK's major landlords to build new retail models that encourage earlier-stage, agile brands through flexible space solutions.

That vision has led us to now opening Local Hero in Brighton - a permanent space where brands can book revolving pop-up slots for as little as one month to meet their customers in real life, while shoppers discover an ever-changing landscape of exciting digital-first brands usually only found online.

This week, you launched Local Hero in Brighton. How do you choose the locations for your pop-ups?

Local Hero is a partnership between LDC and Ingka Centres, a global property company with over 39 centres worldwide. Brighton is one of two UK-based sites, the other being the Livat shopping centre in Hammersmith. Brighton was the perfect choice because it has this incredible creative energy that wasn't being reflected in Churchill Square shopping centre. The community there actively supports independent businesses, but the centre itself wasn't home to enough of them.

Partnering with Ingka Centres has been an amazing milestone for us as it demonstrates landlords' commitment to supporting and fostering talent, ensuring local communities and SMEs have a place in notoriously expensive shopping centres. Brighton has that independent spirit and appreciation for creativity and sustainability, but the retail offering wasn't matching that demand. Local Hero gives Brighton's creative community a permanent home and residents a place to shop their values locally.

How did your own experience as a fashion designer shape your vision for LDC?

The trunk shows taught me everything about what retail could be. Watching customers light up when they discovered something new, seeing them become advocates who brought friends back - that's when I understood that retail isn't just about transactions, it's about building communities.

My experience showed me that the traditional wholesale model was fundamentally broken for independent brands, but it also revealed something powerful: when you create the right environment for discovery and connection, magic happens. Every challenge I faced as a designer - from access barriers to relationship building - became a problem I was determined to solve for other brands.

How would you describe LDC in one sentence?

We're the bridge that connects digital-first brands with physical retail spaces, creating opportunities for authentic discovery and community building that benefit brands, landlords and customers alike.

LDC is known for its pop-up store model. Why was that the right format to bring your concept to life?

Pop-ups solved the fundamental access problem I experienced as a brand. They remove the traditional barriers - the massive upfront costs, long-term commitments and complicated processes that keep innovative brands out of prime retail locations.

But more than that, pop-ups create excitement and discovery. They're events, not just shops. When customers know something is temporary and special, they engage differently. We've proven this works - over 100 activations showing that communities are hungry for authentic alternatives to the same chain stores everywhere.

Local Hero takes this concept to the next level - it's a permanent space with a revolving cast of brands, so customers get that excitement of discovery while brands get consistent access to prime retail.

While we initially focused on activating vacancies for set periods, we're now moving to more permanent models where brands can book short-term continuously.

How does LDC help independent labels scale while staying true to their values?

Through turnkey retail solutions for brands establishing or expanding their retail presence, with a variety of spaces to choose from with pre-vetted terms and access. We handle all the operational complexity that used to be barriers - from store setup and management to analytics and customer insights. This lets founders and teams focus on what they do best: creating great products and building relationships with customers.

At Local Hero specifically, we've created a fully equipped retail space so brands have to think and deal with as little as possible. Beyond easy access to short-term, flexible space, the store itself is fitted out with a premium, sleek finish that appeals to our core brand and customer target - which is key for storytelling and alignment. There's also a fully equipped till system and data capture across physical and digital channels, integrated through the point of sale, so every brand using the space can see their 360-degree retail analytics - who's visiting, what they're purchasing, and how they interact and engage with the brand online afterwards. It's the retail halo effect in action.

In essence, we take the mundane and boring bits out of the equation so brands can focus on doing what they do best, staying true to their values, while we handle the rest as a full turnkey solution and support them every step of the way.

In terms of our values, we've launched enough pop-ups and stores to see the wastefulness of the industry, so we must focus on minimising our impact. We prioritise recycling, repurposing, and using sustainable materials for buildouts - from eco vinyls to specific wood types. We love upcycling from production studios and old theatre sets, collecting furniture and displays from old stores. It's about being as conscious about how we build as we are about the brands we support.

Are there any success stories of brands that have grown significantly through the platform?

Absolutely! Since starting LDC, and personally from my background having grown a brand, it's key to our DNA that brands generate good returns and build confidence in retail to eventually open their own permanent stores. 56% of brands we work with repeatedly use our platform, and it often takes 3-6 pop-ups before a more permanent lease comes into play and the brand has built their confidence and wants to set up properly. We love being part of this journey and helping them reach that next level.

Recently, we had a beautiful Belgian cashmere brand that started with us in an entry-level concession space. They saw such incredible returns and demand from locals that they continued to upsize through our spaces and are now generating over 12x ROI, looking for a more permanent home, all within months. We've had brands go from their first tentative pop-up to securing permanent retail partnerships across the UK. We've got brands from Australia that started small and grown to build their entire UK retail footprint through our activations. We've had DTC brands take spaces recently and generate a 38% increase in sales from hosting events and launches as they use retail in new and innovative ways.

But what excites me most is watching the relationship building happen. I see the same amazing power I experienced from my early days running a brand - customers having genuine conversations with the brand team, becoming brand advocates, bringing friends back. When you create the right environment for discovery, both brands and customers win.

LDC blends online and offline experiences. How do you maintain that connection between the digital store and physical pop-ups?

It's about creating touchpoints that feel natural, not forced. A customer might discover a brand on Instagram, meet the founder at Local Hero, then continue following their journey online. We track these interactions, but what matters most is that we're facilitating genuine relationships.

Local Hero is designed to be that bridge - where digital discovery becomes real-world connection, and physical experiences drive ongoing online engagement.

How do you see the future of retail evolving over the next 5 - 10 years, and where does LDC fit into that picture?

Retail is becoming more experiential, more community-focused, and more values-driven. People want to support businesses that align with their principles and connect them to something meaningful.

In many ways, customers who feel a strong connection to a brand will go out of their way - we call it "inconvenience retail." They'll queue at 4am, be first through the door no matter what, they're total fanboys and fangirls for the founder, watching every story. They'll show up wanting personal connections and added experiences - no matter the inconvenience.

Bricks and mortar retail's role is to marry with digital, not rival it. The brands winning are those that understand it goes hand in hand and create strategies to play across channels how their customers want them to show up and bring them on the journey.

This means more flexible, data-driven, and empowered spaces. Better metric tracking for brands and landlords. More automation and visibility for brands on flexible spaces they can book.

At LDC, we're building the infrastructure for this future. Local Hero is one of the first - permanent spaces that are easily discoverable online where brands can explore retail space information (much like booking an Airbnb), book it online, and measure their success with our unique data capture. These spaces celebrate creativity, support independent businesses, and give communities alternatives to corporate retail. Every city deserves a space where its creative economy can flourish.

What's next for Lone Design Club? Are there new formats, technologies, or regions you're excited to explore?

Local Hero is the exciting beginning of our partnership with Ingka Centres, and we have more in the pipeline! We're developing the framework to roll out similar concepts in other cities, each reflecting its unique creative community. We're expanding our technology platform that helps landlords activate their spaces for independent brands - the infrastructure that enables Local Hero and plays into the future of where retail is headed.

The vision is simple: every community should have access to the brands that reflect their values, and every independent brand should have access to the customers who will champion them. This means flexible, fully equipped, and exciting spaces brands can book to meet their shoppers IRL and make meaningful moments and connections. At LDC, we're building the infrastructure to make that happen at scale.