LONDON — Antler, the British heritage luggage-maker founded in 1914, is stepping back into the limelight with a growth plan built around physical retail and a sharpened brand identity.
The company embarked on a major reset four years ago after being bought out of administration by the current owners, led by South Africa-born British businessman Michael Lewis’ Australian and New Zealand retailer Strandbags, and tapped ex-McQueen executive Kirsty Glenne to lead the operation.
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The opening of the brand’s first stand-alone U.K. flagship at 100 Regent Street on Tuesday is a culmination of Glenne’s turnaround effort with four consecutive years of double-digit growth, and global gross sales in fiscal 2026, ending Feb. 28, reaching 52 million pounds, up 17 percent year-over-year.
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The store also marks the beginning of the next phase of Antler’s growth ambition, with a clear target to reach 100 million pounds in revenue by fiscal 2029.
Prior to the Regent Street opening, the brand dabbled in brick-and-mortar with a one-year residency on Spring Street in New York and a pop-up in Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street. It plans to open at least three stores in the U.K. and internationally over the next three years.
Before its reset, Antler had drifted into the mass market. Glenne said she was handed a blank canvas to rebuild, and she brought a luxury-fashion mindset to the luggage business.
“We talk about the brand like a house, the same way I would talk about McQueen. We have brand codes. Nothing is ever ‘just because,'” she said during a walk-through of the two-floor store, spanning over 2,400 square feet, neighboring Mulberry, Burberry and Penhaligon’s.
Those brand codes have become central to Antler’s revival with a tight visual and material language. Luggage of various sizes, retailing between 310 pounds and 170 pounds, comes in signature antler green and is often paired with a coral strap drawn from the archives. Shells are engineered to be light yet durable, with recycled materials where possible. Hardware details such as custom Hinomoto wheels and a soft-touch handle are “designed for pushing instead of pulling,” Glenne added.
At the same time, Glenne expands the assortment from luggage into a broader travel lifestyle offering, including backpacks, totes, accessories and travel-ready apparel.
“We’re stepping outside of our category. Luggage has been treated as a commodity, a product that carries your stuff. Now it’s an extension of your look. Travel is one of the luxuries people are still willing to invest in, so we design for their lives — long haul, short haul, commuting or slow travel,” she said.
Reflecting that mentality, the store is conceived less as a traditional luggage shop and more as an immersive travel world with hand-carved micro-cement walls, a gradient floor that suggests coastal horizons, and light boxes featuring landscape photography that help soften a retail category that is often “quite clinical.”
“The whole store is inspired by the DNA of the brand, which is inspired by British landscapes,” said Glenne, adding that she was particularly proud of the rotating floral installation by Hamish Powell, known for his work on the Vanity Fair Oscars party, as well as British-made furniture from Toogood and staff uniforms crafted from end-of-line luxury fabrics.
“Retail is not what it used to be. You’re fighting for time. If I’m going to go to a physical store, it’s that or something else, so it has to be a destination. Some stores are just so hard. We wanted to soften it and give the brand a world,” she continued.
The opening on Regent Street also welcomed the arrival of Antler Monogram, developed from the interlocking geometry of Antler’s brand mark in a palette of green, coral and white. It can be seen on a range of cashmere scarves and throws by Johnstons of Elgin, packing cubes and a branded candle in a woody scent called Shared Worlds.
The U.K. and Australia remain Antler’s largest markets, followed by the U.S., where sales rose 83 percent in fiscal 2026, supported by strong digital performance and an expanded wholesale footprint that now includes Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s.
“The U.S. is documented as our strategic priority. We saw really strong results from our Spring Street residency, which gave us the data point we needed to keep investing. When we find the right spots, we’ll roll out, but we’re not going to hurry,” Glenne said.
Alongside these core regions, Antler has been building its presence in Asia and the Middle East through new distribution agreements in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia.
Glenne said Antler’s robust revival has also allowed it to think beyond its core label.
Last August, the company acquired Paravel, the New York-based travel brand known for its sustainability messaging. It has also taken on the international expansion of Nere, a more affordable luggage brand from Australia, forming a synergy anchored around Antler’s success.