British clothing company Belstaff recently hit its 100-year milestone. The following challenge? Preparing for one more 100 years in business—while also staying true to the brand’s heritage.
“We’re not a fashion brand. We’re a functional menswear brand, and that’s a extremely clear and really vital distinction,” says chief brand officer Jodie Harrison. She explains that fashion brands create latest pieces to follow trends, while Belstaff’s latest products maintain a connection to the brand’s iconic designs.
As a part of the Belstaff’s centennial, Jodie led an initiative to gather vintage Belstaff products for the corporate’s archive, which designers use as inspiration for brand spanking new products. “We’ve 1000’s of pieces now at our headquarters, a few of them dating back to the early Nineteen Thirties,” she says.
Here’s how the corporate is modernizing for the subsequent century.
A return to its roots
Belstaff’s ownership modified hands several times throughout its first 100 years. Though the corporate was began in Stoke-on-Trent, UK, it also had German and Italian owners at different points in its history. Josie made it her mission to return the brand to its UK roots. “I used to be quite keen to bring back that lens of Britishness that I feel had been dissolved through the years,” she says.
A part of that initiative meant integrating Stoke-on-Trent into the renovation of Belstaff’s flagship store. The floors have tiles made within the region, with some featuring the brand’s iconic phoenix logo. “We’ve made sure that we use materials that hark back to where we’re from, but at the identical time make it very contemporary,” Jodie says.
Consistent brand experience
Together with redesigning the shop, the corporate also launched into an enormous IT transformation, including replatforming to Shopify. “It was a extremely key project to make sure that when customers come to belstaff.com, that they’re getting the identical feeling across all different touchpoints,” Jodie says.
Navid Jilow, Belstaff’s director of technology, says the IT project helped the brand move toward an omnichannel approach. “We actually found the proposition where you possibly can mix your point-of-sale and your ecommerce platform under a single platform very appealing,” he says.
With Shopify, Belstaff can gather more robust customer data based on each their online and in-store purchases. “That helps us construct that customer profile up somewhat than having a few of these bits missing in our data,” Navid says.
The corporate also worked with an agency to create an enticing customer experience on the front end that was as seamless and simple to navigate because the in-store experience. Navid explains Shopify’s headless setup allowed Belstaff’s developers to create a singular search for the web site.
Old is latest again
Lastly, Belstaff is embracing its longevity with the mantra “old is nice.” In the present era of fast fashion, Jodie’s prediction is that individuals will buy less in the subsequent 100 years, and can turn to brands that deliver quality craftsmanship. That’s why the brand can be specializing in sustainability and exploring ways to assist customers repair their used Belstaff products. “Having the ability to buy a coat, wear it for 50 years, after which pass it on to your son is definitely a extremely lovely a part of what makes Belstaff special,” Jodie says.
To learn more about what Belstaff is doing to rejoice its 100 years in business, take heed to the full interview with Jodie and Navid on Shopify Masters.
