LONDON — Hugo Boss has brought its Boss Orange store concept to a location synonymous with British youth culture: Carnaby Street.
The two-level, 2,000-square-foot store in Soho carries the entire men’s and women’s collection from Hugo Boss’ younger line, including accessories.
“The street has really been coming up over the past couple of years, with new shops and new designers,” said Andrea Cannelloni, creative director of Boss Orange. “It attracts people who travel, and has great local customers, too.”
The Carnaby Street store, which had a soft opening last week, is the company’s second freestanding Boss Orange unit, following the opening of a concept shop in Berlin in February. Hugo Boss launched its women’s Boss Orange line, which for fall 2006 includes pieces such as layered silk dresses, wool coats and silk shirts, in 2005, following the introduction of its men’s Boss Orange collection in 2000.
Although smaller than the Berlin store, the London unit has a similar unfinished design look, with concrete floors, exposed brickwork and galvanized steel clothing rails, contrasted with smooth teak walls and areas of gray deep-pile carpet. To reflect the mood of the area, where skateboard shops and record stores sit alongside stores such as Lee, Miss Sixty and Pepe, Cannelloni commissioned London-based graffiti artists to design a mural for the store, which picks up details from Boss Orange pieces, such as zippers and shoelaces.
“The soul of the [London and Berlin stores] are similar, but we want every city to be a unique experience,” said Cannelloni. “It will remind customers of the shop they’ve seen before, but surprise them with new details.”
Quirky touches in the London store include a decorative German vending machine with retro toys on display, a Bakelite telephone by the fitting rooms and gold vintage-inspired purses displayed with building materials. And the front window doesn’t show merchandise, but is instead simply a slanted pane of glass that allows natural light to flood across the two floors.
“It’s not just about ‘Come here and buy stuff,'” said Cannelloni. “We want customers to discover its special features.”
Men’s and women’s collections are displayed together throughout the store, and prices range from approximately $74 for a cotton T-shirt to $1,700 for a leather coat. Boss Orange’s handcrafted pieces, with more details and features, are in the basement, while the rest of the Boss Orange collection is on the store’s street level. The company declined to give a first-year sales estimate for the store.
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The Carnaby Street unit will be the first location in the U.K. where the entire Boss Orange range is sold together — pieces from the line are sold at the Boss store on Sloane Square, which opened in March, and in stores such as Selfridges and Harvey Nichols. Cannelloni said the company is currently scouting for a third Boss Orange location in cities including New York, Tokyo and Los Angeles, to open in 2007.