Represent founder and CEO interview: ambition, humility and a new London store

Fashion Network

5 days ago

Represent's first London store debuted on Saturday and based on the label's track record, could be set to be another win after its Los Angeles and Manchester stores. Yet the company couldn't be accused of rushing into a London location as it's been looking for just the right spot for around four years.
In the meantime, it opened those stores in LA and Manchester, which is perhaps fitting given that its particular blend of street style and fashion fits the LA vibe very well and Manchester is its home town.
But of course, any UK fashion brand opening stores can't neglect London and its new location on Wardour Street was buzzing on Saturday.
So another potential success story for sibling co-founders and co-creative directors George and Mike Heaton. They started the label in their early 20s just over a decade ago (due to them not being able to easily find the kind of clothes they wanted to wear) and now they're on the Sunday Times Rich List. George is even living their teenage dream having relocated to LA where he can stay close to their first permanent physical store and the American market in general.
Fashionnetwork.com sat down with extremely personable UK-based Mike as well as CEO Paul Spencer (a veteran of sports brands such as Puma, Adidas and Nike who joined three years ago) a couple of days ahead of the debut to find out more. What we discovered was a mix of love of the brand, of each other, mentoring, respect, fun, and ambition — not a bad mix for a couple of super-successful entrepreneurs and a battle-hardened industry veteran.
There's humility too, with lots of shout-outs for the team, including Toni Purdie who created the still-new womenswear.
The company's growth is perhaps all the more remarkable given that it's been achieved in a period that saw Brexit and the pandemic as well the cost-of-living crisis and a number of other global events that have put heavy pressure of the fashion retail sector at all price levels.
Yet the brand has gone from strength to strength, even as its founders' tastes have evolved and the demands on their time have become more pressing.
But 'we've given the boys a swim lane. Sounds very cool, but just an opportunity where they can create product that's really inspiring them and we can bring that to market without any timelines, any seasonality,' said Spencer. And that seems to be working, resulting in product like the new premium denim collection that dropped only the night before our interview and sold 383 units, which is pretty impressive for a brand of Represent's size and type.
The success of drops like that, selling most of it to returning customers, underlines how DTC remains crucial for the label and is still its biggest channel.
Yet physical stores are increasingly a big focus. Which brings us to the London location.
The new store is a minimalist space but it also feels comfortable, marked out by the Owners Club Cafe near the entrance, the strength of the product on the rails and the understated-but-unmissable screens (there was a sibling debate about them and detail-focused Mike Heaton won that particular argument).
There's also exclusive product in the store and the high-profile band collabs (one sign of the brand's success is that big-name brands now let them include the Represent 'R' in the graphics, which didn't happen in the early days).
So let's hear from Spencer and Heaton…
Fashionnetwork.com: For a UK brand, the normal process with permanent store openings is first London, then Manchester and then LA. You turned that round. What was the thinking there?
Paul Spencer: We've been looking for about four years. Our intention was London to be first, but with zero planning or strategy LA ended up being it.
FNW: And why Wardour Street? It's not the obvious first choice when you have Oxford Street, Regent Street, Carnaby nearby.
PS: Because it's Soho, and what we really wanted to do, we wanted to add the grittiness, but bring a premium, super-clean execution. What's the word? Juxtaposition! We really played on that real difference between the earthiness and then to have something super luxury. There's a vibrancy to this area.
FNW: The store design is very simple, very minimalist, but you've not gone for the 'brutalist' approach that's popular with some high-end brands. What's the plan behind the design and have your earlier pop-ups fed into this?
Mike Heaton: It actually comes from what we used to do to display a product. We'd put it on the concrete floor. That always used to do better than any campaign, really, and it stemmed from there — the 'cleanliness' of that. But also we wanted to add that bit of warmth. We don't want to just be 'industrial'.
PS: Everyone does flat lays on concrete now, but they didn't 14 years ago when these guys did it. They definitely are product first… the product needs to be more the focus than anything embellishing [it]. We settled on this sort of unfinished plaster effect, and we felt it just really gave us a texture, but also gave that sort of canvas for the product to really stand out.
FNW: So this is your 'look' now?
PS: Now hopefully you'll see this being consistent through our wholesale partnerships, like in Selfridges, in Harrods, in de Bijenkorf, in Saks. So we get that consistency. I've been at the business for three years now. When we first met, the boys were very keen not to get pigeonholed into an identity. So when we were doing pop-ups or installations, every one was different, which sounds fantastic creatively, and gives impact to the customer and keeps them guessing. But when we're trying to build a brand, there's a need for trusted signals and references… consistency. We agreed that we needed to find a format.
FNW: Your sports label 247 really seems to be a big focus for you at present too and has its own space in the store. How do you differentiate it from the mainline Represent offer?
PS: We have two personas to the brand, which is mainline luxury, and then performance, functional product. [It's] because of the boys' lifestyles, they're quite keen on working out and they're into functional fitness. Clearly they want to wear their own brand. We created 247, so the boys could, you know, perform and work out in their own product.
FNW: But you haven't gone for the 'slap a logo or some stripes on it and call it sport' approach?
PS: Just write sports on it, lower the price points and sell more? No. This is proper functional performance[wear].
FNW: How important is the label to the overall business?
PS: It really has become a significant part of the business, 25% of the business now, and we think that's the real trend. We have an average age of 29 in the office right now. I like going out and going to the pub. [But for] these kids, it's not how many pints you drink, it's how fast your 10k was.
FNW: And talking of drinks, tell me about the cafe. I understand this is your first one in-store?
PS: Yes, we've always been inspired by the West Coast so with the cafe, we've tried to bring some West Coast influence with the cold nitro — very LA.
MH: Is it a Guinness? No, it's a coffee with a cream top!
PS: The cafe is such an important part. We want people to come in who don't know Represent. So whether someone's coming in sheltering from the rain, coming in for a flat white or coming in to buy, I just wanted them to have a great experience.
FNW: And I assume that's the same attitude for the retail area of the store itself?
PS: I want them to be met with someone engaging. So in the store, we'll have 22 staff, not all full-time. There'll be five in the cafe area, five baristas (Mike actually knows how to make a coffee behind there as well). And then, we'll have 17 store staff. We've got a great young team and we've got the same in LA, the same in Manchester. We hired a good team in LA, and we've got the same [people in the LA store] now 18 months later.
FNW: That brings me to your overall company team — it's quite young too and seems very dedicated?
PS: There's a lot of people knocking. [They call them] snowflakes [but] we have 60 people in the company now, average age 29, and they really want to work. We [want to] build the best brand in the world, which is a pretty lofty ambition. We want to be a great employer as well.
FNW: So how did it all start?
MH: Straight from uni. We couldn't find the right things that we wanted to wear. And my grandma was a seamstress, so we always used to ask her: 'Can you just take in these jeans just a bit?'
PS: The guys are graphic designers by trade and that that's why their attention to detail is so [strong].
MH: Even though we're so similar, it's a definite juxtaposition. [George has] naturally taken on the roles that he's better at, and I've taken on the ones [that I am], like patience and design and the more 'artistry' side of it. He's been more 'on the trigger', you know, like 'we've got to go now'. He's very good. He's…
PS: …a good doer. George doesn't procrastinate about anything. If I say to George, 'I thought we were gonna have a campaign for this', that night, you'll have a campaign. I mean, these boys work so fast. It's a very small team. We opened LA with no retail team, 8,000 miles away from the office, and eight hours time difference. You know, it just shows the quality that the boys have. George is more of a driver. Mike is more obsessive about everything being right, which is of equal importance. There's a real trust with each other. If one of them's not feeling it, they respect that.
FNW: So what does the future hold?
PS: We've got global ambitions. Currently, around 50% of our business is UK, 20% US, 30% the rest. You know, I really want the core team here to focus on this market and the US. We need to start growing in the US. Our other owner is [there] and I think that's a great sign of intention for our brand. When we're talking to Saks and other partners, George is there. We have a store there. We're investing. But equally, we have opportunities in APAC. We have opportunities in LATAM. [In Europe] our key markets are the UK, Germany, Netherlands, Italy. We're just starting to motor a little bit in France. We've got areas in Samaritaine and so we're only just starting to motor.