With Tomorrow investment, Charles Jeffrey Loverboy grows up – VOGUE BUSINESS
Fri 13 Jan
Buoyed by new support, the British designer and multi-hyphenate creative is looking beyond London with his first show in Milan. Jeffrey, along with Tomorrow’s chief brand officer Tim Ryan, discuss their plans for commercialising his creativity.
The pivot away from London was necessary “to come across as a bigger and trustworthy brand".
Charles Jeffrey
Charles Jeffrey, the London-based designer who made his name on the underground club scene and whose signature chunky-eared beanies have been a commercial hit, wants to be known for more than just parties and merch. With fashion group Tomorrow as a new backer, and an unexpected mentor in Marni’s creative director Francesco Risso, the goal is to grow the Charles Jeffrey Loverboy label into a bonafide global business, with sales of £5 million by the end of 2023.
Up first will be Loverboy’s Milan Fashion Week men’s debut on 15 January, the sameday as Prada, Etro and JW Anderson. The decision to look beyond London comes as the brand hits an inflection point. Tomorrow, which has also invested in Samuel Ross’s A-Cold-Wall, Sébastien Meyer and Arnaud Vaillant's Coperni, and Martine Rose’s namesake label, took an undisclosed minority stake in Loverboy in March 2021. Since the funding, Loverboy has almost tripled its wholesale doors to 80 (stockists include Ssense, Luisaviaroma, Boon the Shop and Gr8). The team has grown from four to 10 full-time employees, with stronger heads across design, production, e-commerce and sales.
“Income grew dramatically. It feels like a proper business,” says Jeffrey from his studio at Somerset House in central London (he declines to provide figures). Now, it is vying to reach more global buyers, particularly in China and North America.
“Charles’s creativity brings in-built marketing activity that many other brands don’t necessarily have. Because of the energy and community that Charles brings, you have the ability to communicate to market and expand the brand world in a way that doesn’t require throwing money at.”
Tim Ryan, Tomorrow Chief Brand Officer
The pivot away from London was necessary “to come across as a bigger and trustworthy brand”, says Jeffrey. London Fashion Week’s co-ed format in recent seasons has resulted in diminishing exposure for menswear designers and an “overcrowded” schedule without big brands, resulting in fewer key press and buyers, he believes. Jeffrey chose Milan as “there’s something traditional, industrial and working class about it that I really liked. There’s also something about Italians — they have a humour, a sort of frivolity to life, and family values that resonate with me.”
Jeffrey launched Loverboy in 2015 after completing a BA fashion degree at prestigious British fashion school Central Saint Martins, and showed at London Fashion Week as part of Lulu Kennedy’s Fashion East emerging brand incubator. In 2017, he began hosting standalone LFW shows, often staged in dramatic locations such as a hydraulic power station or the restored grand hall of a performing arts theatre.
While Loverboy has garnered a devoted following for its unabashed gender-fluid designs, the brand has always been about more than just clothes; it was the name of a monthly club night used to fund Jeffrey’s university degree, as well as the fashion label. To accompany his Autumn/Winter 2022 collection, Jeffrey released a debut music album, Neko, with multidisciplinary artist Robert Fox and musician Tom Furse. These projects feel more “permanent” than fashion, he says. “Even though clothes can stay with you for a long time, they’re seasonal to a certain extent. With music, you can pick it up and play it anytime; you can listen to it again and again.”
Jeffrey’s broad range of skills, network of collaborators and strong ties to culture outside of fashion is what appealed to Tomorrow, according to chief brand officer Tim Ryan. “Charles’s creativity brings in-built marketing activity that many other brands don’t necessarily have. Because of the energy and community that Charles brings, you have the ability to communicate to market and expand the brand world in a way that doesn’t require throwing money at.” So, while Loverboy’s ongoing club nights and music releases may not be big revenue drivers, the trick is not to try and monetise everything, says Ryan. Instead, these creative projects can be used to create “heat, clout and buzz”, which can indirectly help to drive product sales.
Core categories include knitwear, tailoring and accessories, with retail prices ofbetween £115 and £580. The chunky ears beanie is among Loverboy’s most popular products. “We cannot make them fast enough,” says Ryan. Customers love sharing them on social media too. “Every day when I look at Instagram, there’s another 10 or 15 posts of people wearing the ears beanie, which has our logo bang in the middle of it, so it’s like a walking advertising board for who we are. I can’t complain,” laughs Jeffrey. However, he is wary of becoming too dependent on one hero product. “We don’t want to just be the ears beanie brand. So, we’re thinking about how to leverage the identity of this item and create new objects. I feel like our animism and funny sensibility is quite unique.”
Loverboy's five-year plan is to develop the core categories and strengthen direct-to-consumer touchpoints such as e-commerce (a majority of sales currently come from wholesale). The goal is to keep the brand democratic, says Ryan. “A lot of it is working out entry points for the community so that it doesn’t become exclusive or exclusionary.” As the brand grows and increases the quantities of each style, it will be able to “get pricing much keener”, he adds. “We’re also able to work with factories that would not necessarily be able to support an early-stage brand. We’ve got more products across the spectrum of pricing.”
Loverboy’s customer base, like its founder, are creatives, says Ryan. Sales are mostly driven by repeat purchases from brand loyalists who are in the UK or continental Europe. China is a growing market, particularly for accessories. Top of the brand’s priority this year is broadening its mix of stockists. “We want to make sure that it isn’t only in directional boutiques like Dover Street Market and Machine-A, but it’s also available in key North American department stores.” Loverboy’s AW23 show in Milan should help broaden the brand’s appeal, he adds.