Retail Week visited AllSaints head office in London and sat down with chief operating officer Catherine Jobling to discuss the brand’s year, some of its newest ventures, including its expansion into childrenswear, and the opportunities ahead.
It’s been a bumper year for AllSaints, which hit a milestone as a business, celebrating its 30th anniversary.
2024 saw the brand bolster its store footprint worldwide with entry into new markets including Africa, diversification into a number of new product categories including fragrance and childrenswear, as well as reporting another “record” financial performance.
Despite the fashion market having had a tough time of late, customers continued to opt for classic leathers, cosy cashmere, embellished partywear and alternative seasonal staples from AllSaints’ unique product range. Despite an overwhelmingly positive year for AllSaints, it seems there’s no chance of things slowing down as we look forward to 2025.
We visited AllSaints chief operating officer Catherine Jobling at the home of the brand, its London-based headquarters, to discuss why the children’s fashion market needed AllSaints, the significance of the brand’s 30th anniversary, ongoing growth opportunities and how the brand is adopting the use of AI into the business.
It’s been a big year of expansion for AllSaints, how has 2024 been for the business in terms of growth?
“This year we celebrated our 30th annivesary and 30 years of AllSaints is amazing. Our brand has evolved so much after the last 30 years if you look at where it started in 1994 to where it is today and the number of doors we are in. It was just a moment to celebrate and give thanks, especially after four years of consecutive growth.
“I always worry about using the word proud because I worry that if as a brand you become too proud, you become arrogant. You’re only as good as your last set of results and this year we have learned a lot. We don’t have all the answers, but the thing is to learn from it and be better next time.
“We’re doing really well in Egypt and we’re opening more doors there. Our business in Mexico has been excellent and we’ve signed a new license with a distributor in Germany that’s really strong. We opened an EU distribution centre and we’ve had great growth with Zalando, we’ve also got great potential with Breuninger. So globally, we’re absolutely open to growth and we are poised for expansion.
“There’s huge potential in the EU and in the US, and we actually make more money in the US than we make in the UK. Growing is not always easy but we are really keen to grow.”
Why was it the right time for AllSaints to launch rental?
“The most sustainable thing you can do as a fashion brand is make your collection last longer. Not everyone can afford our products with the cost of living and how things are going in the market.
“For example, our leather jackets, our shearlings or our embellished party dresses, perhaps you don’t need to own it and you don’t need it in your wardrobe all the time. So we just thought it was a really amazing opportunity to be able to offer our beautiful pieces on rental and we’ve had a really good uptake so far. It’s just really lovely to be able to offer someone something beautiful from AllSaints to wear, even if they can’t afford to buy it.
“It’s not just about price points, it’s about a different way of us approaching our collection, and it’s a new model for customers instead of poor purchasing in certain situations. Sometimes people like to try new things and subscription rental has worked quite well, it’s growing, so it’s the right thing for us right now.
“We did repair and rewear earlier this year, we can fix broken zips, or a stud that’s come undone or tiny rips, and that’s been really good. We don’t charge for that because we want people to come and we want them to love their leather. So the next progression is rental after those other two initiatives that we’ve already ticked off and it makes the collections last longer.”
Talk to me about your new kidswear product category
“Because children are always growing, you do always have to buy more clothes. So I think the kids market hasn’t suffered as much recently through what has been a tough market this year as a result.
“The reason we wanted to do SmallSaints is because there are a lot of brands that do mini me outfits that are quite twee but there are not a lot of brands that do mini me outfits that are cool. Some parents are now in their 30s and there’s a gap for the kinds of products they would want to see their kids in within the market, so it’s a real white space.
“I think as the world evolves it’s important for kids to be able to emulate their parents in a cooler way and if you think about kids brands, they don’t exactly offer what most parents would wear and the reaction to our first collection has been incredible.”
What’s next for AllSaints?
“There are lots of changes happening in the market, so the whole premium sector of the market is actually poised to be really successful and there’s huge potential. We also own John Varvatos (JV), our luxury menswear brand, and it’s the brand’s 25th year next year. We have taken a lot of the lessons from what’s worked for All Saints this year and we’ve applied them for JV.
“We launched five licenses this year but all of them only launched in August/September and we’ve already had other people approach us for new license opportunities. We haven’t said yes to any new ones yet because we really want to make sure everything is stable, spot on and we’re really happy with it but it’s been quite flattering.
“While there is opportunity to grow we are also looking at AI and our progression, but it isn’t the answer to everything. We can use AI to replicate colourways for example and that does make it quite easy, but that’s more on quite ordinary product. No AI would be able to come up with a dress that’s quite out there, AI logic would in a lot of cases say that certain products are never going to sell but it’s those showstopper pieces at AllSaints that are our bestsellers.
“I think there is a nervousness into how we, especially in retail, are moving from a technological perspective, but I don’t think we need to be scared. We just need to use it as a tool to enhance and make us all better but without it taking over. It gives me faith because it shows that nothing replaces human contact, which I think is beautiful.”
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