Whistles (company)

Last updated

Whistles
Company type Subsidiary
Industry Fashion
Founded1976[ citation needed ]
Headquarters
London
,
England
Number of locations
40+ stand-alone stores(August 2022)
Products Clothing, Accessories
ServicesPersonal Styling
Number of employees
501-1000(August 2022)
Parent Foschini Group
Website www.whistles.co.uk

Whistles is a women's contemporary fashion brand with more than 40 stores and 60 concessions in the UK, USA, Europe, Hong Kong, and Australia. It was founded in 1976 by Lucille and Richard Lewin.

Contents

In January 2008, Jane Shepherdson, former Topshop director, signed a deal to purchase a 20 per cent stake in Whistles and was appointed as chief executive. [1]

The brand was scheduled to unveil its relaunch days before Lehman Brothers collapsed. It survived the subsequent global economic recession of 2008-2009, during which one of its largest backers, Baugur, went bankrupt.

In March 2016, Whistles and its then-46 shops were bought by the South African retailer, Foschini Group. [2]

Product

In the past, the style of Whistles was described as having "a pretty but decidedly yummy mummy-ish air". [3] Since Shepherdson's appointment as chief executive, the clothes were said to have cleaner silhouettes with a more sophisticated palette; "baby pinks and lilacs have made way for olives, camel, china blue, tea rose and yes, plenty of black – and the detailing has a quirky vintage feel rather than being fussy." [3]

After this successful rebranding, Whistles had effectively shifted directions from boho-chic, which Shepherdson felt was outdated, [4] to "effortless" and minimalist. Having attracted loyal and therefore older customers for some time, their goal was to target younger customers, "between 25 and 45," who are "confident about fashion, has their own innate style, knows what she wants to look like, quite independent, works in creative industries like media, fashion, the arts." [4]

Unlike a number of brands at parent company Topshop, Whistles is not considered to be fast fashion, citing the needs of older customers in professional careers who want more expensive clothes that last longer while still retaining "the excitement of trends". [4] The clothing and accessories can also be bought through Bloomingdale's in the United States.

At retailers that sell Whistles products, customers can expect to pay anywhere within the contemporary or popular fashion price point.

Sustainability

In 2019, Whistles's Head of CSR and Sustainability, Francesca Mangano, outlined the brand's efforts to increase sustainability and decrease impact on the environment. In 2021, 55% of the corresponding year's collection "incorporated elements of responsible and lower impact materials," with 47% of the spring and summer and 53% of the autumn and winter collections incorporating "responsible materials". [5]

The sustainability efforts outlined include reducing the impact made on the planet's environment, protecting human rights and fair labour standards, increasing inclusivity among employees, replacing fabrics with "more responsible fibres and lower impact alternatives", increasing responsible waste and chemical management, and collaborating with their suppliers to decrease environmental footprints left by transportation. [5]

Whistles is a signatory to the UK Government Modern Slavery Pledge, the End Uyghur Forced Labour Coalition, and participated in the UN Global Compact addressing the more than 400,000 seafarers stranded at sea due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. [5] [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philip Green</span> British businessman (born 1952)

Sir Philip Nigel Ross Green is a British businessman who was the chairman of the retail company Arcadia Group. He owned the high street clothing retailers Topshop, Topman, and Miss Selfridge from 2002 to 2020. In May 2023, his net worth was estimated by the Sunday Times Rich List to be £910 million.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Baugur Group</span>

Baugur Group was an Icelandic investment company. The group began as a supermarket and general retail company in Iceland, before diversifying to own a number of businesses at its peak, primarily in the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Primark</span> Irish multinational fast-fashion company

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.

Arcadia Group Ltd was a British multinational retailing company headquartered in London, England. It was best known for being the previous parent company of British Home Stores (BHS), Burton, Dorothy Perkins, Debenhams, Evans, Miss Selfridge, Topman, Topshop, Wallis and Warehouse. At its peak, the group had more than 2,500 outlets in the UK and concessions in UK department stores and several hundred franchises operated internationally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vintage clothing</span> Garments originating from a previous era

Vintage clothing is a generic term for garments originating from a previous era, as recent as the 1990s. The term can also be applied in reference to second-hand retail outlets, e.g. in vintage clothing store. While the concept originated during World War I as a response to textile shortages, vintage dressing encompasses choosing accessories, mixing vintage garments with new, as well as creating an ensemble of various styles and periods. Vintage clothes typically sell at low prices for high-end name brands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fast fashion</span> Quick retail copying of catwalk trends

Fast fashion is the business model of replicating recent catwalk trends and high-fashion designs, mass-producing them at a low cost, and bringing them to retail quickly while demand is at its highest. The term fast fashion is also used generically to describe the products of this business model. Retailers who employ the fast fashion strategy include Primark, H&M, Shein, and Zara, all of which have become large multinationals by driving high turnover of inexpensive seasonal and trendy clothing that appeals to fashion-conscious consumers.

Jane Elizabeth Shepherdson CBE is an English businesswoman. As of 2016 she was the chief executive of UK clothing brand Whistles, and had been the brand director for high-street women's wear store TopShop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Visual merchandising</span> Marketing technique emphasizing 3D model displays

Visual merchandising is the practice in the retail industry of optimizing the presentation of products and services to better highlight their features and benefits. The purpose of such visual merchandising is to attract, engage, and motivate the customer towards making a purchase.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Topman</span> British clothing retailer

Topman is a UK-based multinational men's fashion retail brand founded by Burton Group in 1978. Along with its women's clothing counterpart Topshop and the rest of Arcadia Group, Topman went into administration in late 2020. All high street stores subsequently closed and the brand was purchased by ASOS on 1 February 2021, relaunching as an online-only retailer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sustainable fashion</span> Part of design philosophy and trend of sustainability in fashion

Sustainable fashion is a term describing efforts within the fashion industry to reduce its environmental impacts, protect workers producing garments, and uphold animal welfare. Sustainability in fashion encompasses a wide range of factors, including "cutting CO2 emissions, addressing overproduction, reducing pollution and waste, supporting biodiversity, and ensuring that garment workers are paid a fair wage and have safe working conditions".

Bestseller A/S is a privately held family-owned clothing and accessories company founded in Denmark in 1975. The company provides affordable fashion for women, men and children. They market their products in 70 markets across most of Europe, the Middle East, Canada, India and globally via E-commerce. They operate almost 9,000 shops worldwide, 6,000 in China and the rest mainly in Europe.

People Tree is a Fair Trade apparel company founded in 1991. The Company no longer has a London base after laying off most UK staff in 2023 amid financial trouble but maintains an office in Tokyo. People Tree Ltd, the UK business, went into liquidation in September 2023 with debts of £8.5m. People Tree was one of the early proponents of Fair Trade and Ethical Fashion and was the first fashion company to be awarded the World Fair Trade Organisation Fair Trade product label.

Clothing industry or garment industry summarizes the types of trade and industry along the production and value chain of clothing and garments, starting with the textile industry, embellishment using embroidery, via the fashion industry to apparel retailers up to trade with second-hand clothes and textile recycling. The producing sectors build upon a wealth of clothing technology some of which, like the loom, the cotton gin, and the sewing machine heralded industrialization not only of the previous textile manufacturing practices. Clothing industries are also known as allied industries, fashion industries, garment industries, or soft goods industries.

Boohoo Group plc is a British online fast-fashion retailer, aimed at 16 to 30 year olds. The business was founded in 2006, and had sales in 2019 of £856.9 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slow fashion</span> Fashion concept

Slow fashion is an aspect of sustainable fashion and a concept describing the opposite to fast fashion, part of the "slow movement" advocating for clothing and apparel manufacturing in respect to people, environment and animals. As such, contrary to the industrial practices of fast fashion conglomerates, slow fashion involves local artisans and the use of eco-friendly materials, with the goal of preserving crafts and the environment which, ultimately, provides value to all, slow fashion brands, consumers and retailers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Environmental impact of fashion</span>

The fashion industry, particularly manufacture and use of apparel and footwear, is a significant driver of greenhouse gas emissions and plastic pollution. The rapid growth of fast fashion has led to around 80 billion items of clothing being consumed annually, with about 85% of clothes consumed in United States being sent to landfill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the fashion industry</span>

The COVID-19 pandemic affects the global fashion industry as governments close down manufacturing plants, and through store closures, and event cancellations to attempt to slow the spread of the virus. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a major impact on fashion brands worldwide. At the same time, the fashion industry faces challenges in consumer demand. New opportunities are also presenting themselves as fashion brands shift to making fashionable COVID-19 face masks. Domenico de Sole, chairman of Tom Ford International, remarked that "I have seen a lot of difficult situations in my long career and this has been the most devastating event, not just for fashion and luxury, but all industries."

Shein is a Chinese-Singaporean fast fashion retailer. Founded in Nanjing, China, in October 2008 as ZZKKO by entrepreneur Chris Xu, Shein grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer as of 2022. The company is headquartered in Singapore.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impact of fast fashion in China</span>

Fast fashion is a term used to represent cheap, trendy clothing that is made to replicate higher end fashion trends. As of 2019, China remains the leading producer of fast fashion clothing. Many sweatshops are located in China, where the workers are underpaid and overworked in unsafe environments. China produces 65% of the world's clothing, with a majority of these clothes being labeled as "fast fashion". The top ten competitors in the fast fashion market make up 29.13% of the whole fashion market in 2020.

References

  1. Davey, Jenny (3 February 2008). "Return of fashion queen Jane Shepherdson". Times Online . London. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011.
  2. Farrell, Sean; Butler, Sarah (24 March 2016). "Whistles bought by South Africa's Foschini Group" via www.theguardian.com.
  3. 1 2 Long, Carola (8 September 2008). "Belles and Whistles". The Independent . Retrieved 17 December 2008.
  4. 1 2 3 Indvik, Lauren. "How Whistles Reemerged as One of the Most Exciting Contemporary Brands in Fashion". Fashionista. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "Committed To Change | Whistles". Whistles. Retrieved 25 August 2022.
  6. "United Nations bodies call for further action to end seafarer crisis". UNCTAD. Retrieved 25 August 2022.