![]() | |
Industry | Clothing |
---|---|
Founded | 2012 |
Founder | Polly McMaster |
Website | https://thefoldlondon.com |
The Fold London is a British womenswear fashion label providing luxury business attire, and describes itself as offering "the feminine alternative to the Savile Row suit". [1] The brand is London-based, with a large retail store in Belgravia, London. [2]
The company was founded in 2012 by British entrepreneur Polly McMaster, a former finance executive. [1] [2] McMaster is an alumnus of London Business School, and was included in the Management Today list of "35 under 35". [3] The Fold is backed by Active Partners, [1] with Nick Evans (founder of Evans Cycle) leading the board of investors. [4]
The company began by offering a "semi-bespoke" service from a studio and workshop in London's Clerkenwell, and this facility had closed by the time the first store had opened in 2018. [2] [5]
Their first store opened in March 2018, a 1,400 sq ft space in a grade II listed building in Cadogan Place, in London's Belgravia. [2] [5] The store's interior design was created by the all women London-based firm KKD. [5] [6]
In August 2018, Tatler included The Fold in its "Chic, smart and British: The 5 workwear brands to stock up on this autumn", and wrote, "corporate dressing doesn't have to be frumpy". [7] The brand has been included in workwear recommendations articles from publications including Marie Claire [8] and Who What Wear. [9]
In 2016, The Fold was one of 12 companies selected the by UK luxury brand association Walpole (founded by John Ayton) for its Brands of Tomorrow programme. [10] [11] [12]
For several years, the company has supported Smartworks.org, a charity dedicated to donating free, smart workwear for women going back to work after a period of unemployment, with donations and fundraising activities. [13] [14]
Notable customers include the Duchess of Cambridge, [1] Pippa Middleton, [15] Holly Willoughby, [16] and Samantha Cameron. [12]
TOPSHOP is a British fast-fashion company, which specialises in 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.
River Island is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis. The retailer has a presence in over 125 of worldwide markets, in stores and online.
Austin Reed was a British fashion retailer founded in 1900, and the brand was acquired by Edinburgh Woollen Mill in 2016.
Alessandro Dell'Acqua is an Italian fashion designer.
Anya Susannah Hindmarch, is an English fashion accessories designer who founded an eponymous company, of which she is currently CEO. Hindmarch published her first book, If In Doubt Wash Your Hair in May 2021, a Sunday Times bestseller.
Ports is an international luxury fashion house founded by Japanese Canadian fashion designer Luke Tanabe (1920–2009) in Toronto in 1961. It specializes in luxury women's and men's ready-to-wear as well as accessories. Acquired by Chinese Canadian brothers Alfred Chan and Edward Tan in 1989, Ports expanded into the Chinese market in the early 1990s where its parent company — which traded on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange from 2003 to 2018 and has since been privatized — now operates more than 300 retail stores. Sub-brands of the fashion house include Ports (International) in China and Asia as well as Ports 1969, with subsidiaries in Milan and New York City as well as a flagship store in Paris, for global distribution.
Wolf & Badger is a global online marketplace for independent fashion, beauty and homeware brands, with storefronts in London, New York City and Los Angeles.
Philippa Charlotte Matthews is a British socialite, author and columnist. She is the younger sister of Catherine, Princess of Wales.
Comme des Garçons is a Japanese fashion label based in Paris founded by Rei Kawakubo. Its French flagship store is located in Paris. The brand has physical retail stores in London, Melbourne, Seoul, Hong Kong, New York City and in the Aoyama district of Tokyo. Other than fashion, the label has expanded to include jewelry and perfume.
Christopher Raeburn (born 13 August 1982) is a British fashion designer, known for reworking surplus fabrics and garments to create menswear, womenswear and accessories.
Zoe Jordan is an Irish fashion designer. She studied architecture and business before embarking on a career as a bond trader in New York for HSBC and later an equity sales-trader at Credit Suisse. After years on Wall Street, she left the world of finance behind in order to pursue her real passion, fashion design. Her eponymous brand launched in London in 2011 and went on to be winner of several awards.
Olivia von Halle is a British fashion designer who runs "Olivia von Halle", a manufacturer of silk pyjamas.
Goat Fashion is a London based womenswear label. It was founded in 2001 by Jane Lewis as a small range of tailored separates and knits using cashmere, wool and silk yarns and has grown into a complete ready-to-wear collection. The brand is stocked by boutiques and stores predominantly in the UK. The Goat trademark was sold in 2020 and in 2021 Goat Fashion rebranded to Jane, named after the Founder and Creative Director Jane Lewis. The website changed to JaneAtelier.com.
Emilia Wickstead is a New Zealand fashion designer based in London, England. In 2014 she won the Red Carpet Designer of the Year Award at the Elle Style Awards, and her clients include Samantha Cameron, and the Princess of Wales.
JW Anderson is a UK fashion label, founded by Jonathan Anderson. Anderson originally from Magherafelt in Northern Ireland established JW Anderson in 2008 and subsequently launched his fashion house in London. The brand initially focused on menswear, before moving into womenswear in 2010. From 2012 onwards, the brand and its designer have collaborated with a number of retail fashion brands, most notably Topshop, Versace, and Uniqlo, with LVMH acquiring a minority stake in the brand in 2013.
FYODOR GOLAN is a fashion brand based in London. It was founded in 2011 by British designers Fyodor Podgorny and Golan Frydman. The duo is known for their colourful advanced-contemporary ready-to-wear designs.
Bionda Castana is a luxury women’s footwear brand founded in 2007 by London-based entrepreneurs Natalia Barbieri and Jennifer Portman. The brand closed in late 2016 and relaunched in November 2018 with a sustainable, direct-to-consumer business strategy.
Isoken Ogiemwonyi is a Nigerian entrepreneur in film, television and fashion. She is a producer of the Smart Money Woman TV Show, which was nominated for multiple Africa Magic Viewers Choice Awards in 2022 #amvca8 She is the founder and CEO of the fashion label "Obsidian" and retail store "ZAZAII". She is known also as the Co-Founder of Winterfell Ltd, which owns Le Petit Marche Nigeria and L’Espace trademarks. She was the winner of the 2012 MTN Lagos Fashion & Design Week/British Council Young Creative Entrepreneur of the Year. In 2013, The Guardian placed her among the 25 most influential women in Africa.
Walpole is the official body for the UK's luxury goods sector. It represents the interests of 270 British brands and members include Rolls-Royce, Burberry, Claridge's and Harrods. Its purpose is to promote, protect and develop a sector that in 2019 was estimated to be worth £48 billion to the UK economy.
Accent Group is an Australian and New Zealand footwear and clothing retail, wholesaling and distribution company. It has more than 800 retail stores, along with 19 brands, and more than 20 online platforms.