 | |
| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Footwear Optician |
| Founded | 1982 |
| Headquarters | London, UK |
| Products | Shoes, glasses |
| Brands | Specsavers |
| Parent | Pentland Group |
| Website | redordead.com |
Red or Dead is a fashion designer and manufacturer, started in London in 1982 by married couple Gerardine Hemingway and Wayne Hemingway. They design products such as shoes, spectacles, bags and watches.
In 1982, Wayne and Gerardine Hemingway opened a stall on Camden Market, London to sell items from their wardrobes. [1] Within a year they had expanded to sixteen stalls of second-hand clothes, purchased from all over the world. [2] The company's name (Red or Dead) refers both to an inversion of the Cold War slogan "Better dead than red", and to Wayne's indigenous Canadian ancestors. [1]
The Hemingways began making and retailing their own designs. Red or Dead became popular with some young pop artists of the late 80'S, including Kylie Minogue, Bros, Jason Donovan and Brother Beyond. Wayne Hemingway later explained their goal "to be the first designer company that sold to everyday people". London Fashion Week snubbed them at first on the grounds that designer fashion was meant to be elitist, but later relented, and Red or Dead won the British Fashion Council's Streetstyle Designer of the Year Award, from 1995 to 1997. [1] [2]
In 1995 they sold the brand to Stephen Hinchliffe's Facia Group. [3] Facia collapsed the next year, and receivers sold Red or Dead back to the Hemingways. At that time it was counted as "one of the UK's leading fashion chains", employing more than 100 people. [4]
In 1998, Red or Dead was sold to the Pentland Group. [5]
Red or Dead expanded its product base and, as of 2012, it included footwear, clothing, fashion handbags, optical frames, swimwear and "glorious gussets" hosiery. The brand was also being used on fragrance from The Perfume Shop and fashion versions of Raleigh bicycles. [6]
In the UK, Red or Dead's footwear range was exclusively sold through the Schuh chain of stores, but the brand is no longer listed by Schuh. It is not clear whether the range is currently available elsewhere.
Dr. Martens, also commonly known as Doc Martens, Docs or DMs, is a German-founded British footwear and clothing brand, headquartered in Wollaston in the Wellingborough district of Northamptonshire, England. Although famous for its footwear, Dr. Martens also makes a range of accessories – such as shoe care products, clothing, and bags. The footwear is distinguished by its air-cushioned sole, upper shape, welted construction and yellow stitching. Dr Martens' design studio is in Camden Town, London; the manufacturing is in the UK, China, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Next plc (styled as NEXT) is a British multinational clothing, footwear and home products retailer, which has its headquarters in Enderby, England. It has around 700 stores, of which circa 500 are in the United Kingdom, and circa 200 across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Next is the largest clothing retailer by sales in the United Kingdom, having overtaken Marks & Spencer in early 2012 and 2014. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index.
TOPSHOP is a British fashion brand for women's clothing, shoes and accessories. It was part of the Arcadia Group, controlled by Sir Philip Green, but went into administration in late 2020 before being purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021. It now operates via the ASOS website and app, as well as being sold in Nordstrom stores in the US on Nordstrom.com. TOPSHOP previously had around 510 shops worldwide.
Habitat, is a brand of household furnishings in the United Kingdom and the main homewares brand within the Sainsbury's group.
Primark Stores Limited is an Irish multinational fast fashion retailer with headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, with outlets across Europe and in the United States. The original Penneys brand is not used outside of Ireland because it is owned elsewhere by American retailer J. C. Penney.
SOCKSHOP is a British-based specialist retailer of socks and hosiery. Founded in 1983 by Sophie Mirman and Richard P. Ross, SOCKSHOP became part of the Ruia Group in 2006, and is now based mainly online, with stores in the Manchester Arndale and The Lowry Outlet, as well as concessions across the United Kingdom.
Yohji Yamamoto is a Japanese fashion designer based in Tokyo and Paris. Considered a master tailor alongside those such as Madeleine Vionnet, he is known for his avant-garde tailoring featuring Japanese design aesthetics.
Wayne Andrew Hemingway is an English designer and co-founder of Red or Dead. He is also on the Design Council Trustee Board and having been with the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) for a decade since its inception is now on the Design Council CABE Committee. Hemingway is a Professor in The Built Environment Department of Northumbria University, a Doctor of Design at Wolverhampton, Lancaster and Stafford, a Fellow of Blackburn College and a Senior Fellow of Regent's University London.
Elizabeth Florence Emanuel is a British fashion designer who is best known for designing, with her former husband David Emanuel, the wedding dress worn by Lady Diana Spencer on her wedding to Prince Charles in 1981. Since then Elizabeth has developed her own label and worked in costume design for airlines, cinema, pop video and television productions, as well as providing a couture service to some of the world's most famous women.
The ALDO Group branded as ALDO, is a Canadian multinational corporation retailer that owns and operates a worldwide chain of shoe and accessories stores. The company was founded by Aldo Bensadoun in Montreal, Quebec, in 1972, where its corporate headquarters based in the Montreal borough of Saint-Laurent, Quebec, remain. It has grown to become a worldwide corporation, with nearly 3,000 stores across 100 countries, under three retail banners: ALDO, Call It Spring/Spring and GLOBO. Stores in Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Ireland are owned by the Group, while international stores are franchised. The company once operated the now closed or rebranded banners Little Burgundy, Simard & Voyer, Christian Shoes, Access, Pegabo, Transit, Stoneridge, Locale, Feetfirst and FIRST.
schuh is a Scottish footwear retailer based in Livingston, Scotland. It has 132 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The company is predominantly a branded shoe stockist, selling over 80 brands, including: Converse, Vans, UGG, Nike, Adidas as well as its own schuh label.
Sears plc was a large British-based conglomerate. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. It was acquired by Philip Green in 1999.
Stephen Leonard Hinchliffe is an English businessman from Sheffield who was the founder of the former retail empire Facia group, which had up to 850 stores before it collapsed in 1996. He has been a director of 60 companies. He was jailed in 2001 and 2003 for bribery and fraud.
American entertainer Madonna has produced five fashion brands, beginning with a clothing range for fashion store H&M in March 2007. She later created an enterprise, MG Icon LLC, a joint venture with her manager Guy Oseary and Iconix Brand Group which produces her lifestyle brands Material Girl and Truth or Dare by Madonna. She also collaborated with Dolce & Gabbana on a range of sunglasses which marked the first co-branded collaboration that the design duo has ever undertaken.
Ronnie Fieg is an American footwear and clothing designer, entrepreneur and the owner-operator of American retail fashion establishment and brand Kith.
BodyMap was an influential British fashion label of the 1980s, renowned for its layered and innovatively structured shapes, distinctive prints and groundbreaking fashion shows.
Charlotte Olympia is a British luxury shoe and accessories brand founded by Charlotte Olympia Dellal in 2008.
Irregular Choice is a fashion brand founded in Brighton in 1999. It specialises in unusual footwear, bags and accessories.
Datuk Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat, is a Malaysian fashion designer based in the United Kingdom. He co-founded Jimmy Choo Ltd, which became known for its handmade women's shoes.
Overland Footwear Group is a New Zealand and Australian footwear and fashion retail company. It operates the Merchant 1948 and Mi Piaci retail chains in both countries and produces its own footwear lines.
