Wrangler is letting loose some modern rodeo spirit on London’s Carnaby Street as it charts a retail rollout in Europe.
The Western denim brand opened a 1,850-square-foot flagship on the central London street last week, complete with cowhide curtains on the fitting room doors, pairs of jeans displayed next to a vintage Singer sewing machine, rugged graffiti brickwork and exposed metal pipes.
With a concept from the London design consultants Dalziel and Pow, the store contrasts the brand’s origin with its new, trend-driven ranges. In the basement, Wrangler’s Blue Bella women’s wear collection, which includes slim-fit trousers with suspenders, denim HotPants and denim coveralls, is displayed alongside publicity material from the Thirties and Forties when the brand was known as Blue Bell. The store will also carry the Blue Bella Story line, created with graphic artists, when it launches in September.
“The store is key to being able to give the consumer a Wrangler experience, something we are looking to achieve more and more through our marketing activities,” said Louise Vaughn, marketing manager for Wrangler in the U.K.
The response to the store among consumers has been positive, Vaughn said. The brand’s fashion-forward fits — the Lia for women, a skinny fit in Carnaby gray, and the Sharkey, a men’s jean in a resin tint, both retailing for $127 — sold out during the store’s first weekend. Prices in the store range from about $30 for a cotton top to $235 for a pair of jeans. Jeans start at $108.
“Our customer is young-minded and buying the contemporary men’s and women’s wear,” Vaughn said. “It’s quite an eclectic mix on Carnaby Street.”
Wrangler is the latest denim retailer to open on the street near Lee, Fornarina, Miss Sixty, Replay, Diesel and Pepe.
“[The street has] become a destination for denim,” Vaughn said. “It was fitting for us to open our first U.K. flagship [there].”
The store will be the template for the brand’s European retail rollout, Vaughn said, adding that the company plans to open four stores each year in the region over the next 10 years. Stores launched in Madrid and Catania, Sicily, in 2006.
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Although Vaughn declined to give a sales prediction for the London unit, she said that signature stores are becoming more important to Wrangler in Europe.
“Wrangler only has three stores throughout Europe, and therefore the percentage [of sales that they represent] is small,” Vaughn said. “However, retail is an area of focus for Wrangler and we hope to grow it significantly.”