How Jaeger swung back into style
There was a time when Jaeger was going to be the next Burberry. A heritage brand ripe for a Cool Britannia reinvention.
In 2008, when sales topped £80 million, Jaeger held its first show at London Fashion Week and Kate Moss wore its star-print blouse.
The twinset-and-pearls reputation that had dogged the company since the Nineties was all but snuffed out. And then? Jaeger almost went bust — twice — in 2011 and 2017.
But Philip Day, owner of edinburgh Woollen Mill Group, swooped in and saved Jaeger ( est. 1884) from oblivion last year, after decades of management turmoil, yo-yoing finances and behind- thescenes battles (former owner harold Tillman is suing Lloyds bank, claiming Jaeger was ‘taken’ from him).
The boardroom might be in better shape for now, but on the shop floor, well — when was the last time you popped into a store? (If you could find one: 20 branches were closed last April). If Jaeger hasn’t slipped off your shopping radar, it’s become synonymous with smart but slightly boring pieces. Too expensive for a lunchtime shopping fix, too sensible for fashion-lovers with cash to splash.
however, Jaeger’s new autumnwinter collection could be about to revive the brand’s desirability.
What better way to recapture its Fifties/Sixties heyday — a time when they dressed Audrey hepburn, and David Bailey shot their advertising campaigns — than to take inspiration from this golden era? Key
heritage pieces have been thoughtfully modernised: a classic doublebreasted jacket comes with matching cropped culottes, a checked A- line midi- skirt gets a contrast panel, boucle jackets remain but are cleaned of fussy buttons or twee detailing.
‘It’s about being proud of what we’ve done — and making it relevant,’ says Jaeger’s head of product design Liza Canneford, who, along with womenswear designer Stephanie Teigh, plundered the brand’s archive of sketches and marketing material at Westminster Library.
‘Jaeger has been through a tough time. But it’s like every woman’s life — it has its ups and downs. you have to re-find yourself and get back on track.’ eye-catching pieces include a pencil skirt in champagne sequins, and satin pyjama-style separates in a black and gold floral. The hero piece Jaeger is trumpeting is the pale pink mohair coat, inspired by a 1957 Jaeger design.
‘There’s an incredible image by photographer Norman Parkinson, who shot Anne Gunning wearing the coat for Vogue in 1956: she’s in India, standing by an elephant,’ says Liza.
Now the original design has been tweaked, playing with the shape of the collar and adjusting the proportions to be less voluminous. It’s a serious contender for ‘ It Coat’ of the season. But can one great item really resuscitate a whole brand?
‘ It can work brilliantly — if they’ve chosen the right product,’ says Kate Ancketill, CeO of retail innovation consultancy GDr Creative Intelligence. ‘ Think Burberry’s trench, or Levi’s 501s. It becomes a metaphor for the history and craftsmanship that permeates the brand.’
She says ‘lacklustre design’ has previously let down the retailer, but also thinks Jaeger needs to reestablish its position. ‘They’ve slumped into the middle market. I’m guessing their target is the woman who buys from Sportmax,
Joseph or Winser London, who all do the “high-quality fashionable classics” really well.
‘however, I suspect they’re actually in competition with John Lewis and M&S more often than they’d like.’
That’s a problem: Jaeger’s pink coat is £335 — very expensive indeed if you’re comparing it to M&S’s offering.
In Jaeger’s new collection, jackets hover around the £150 mark and knitwear £125. Liza is keen to stress the value that Jaeger’s designs represent: ‘If I’m asking someone to spend £300 on a coat, I am 100 per cent confident that she will get incredible value — because it’s the best fabric, it’s beautifully cut, and will last for ever.’
Still, competition for the nation’s credit cards is stiff.
‘The space Jaeger occupies is increasingly crowded,’ says Richard hyman, a retail strategist. ‘ The line-up today includes hobbs, Ted Baker, Karen Millen, Reiss, L.K.Bennett, Jigsaw — all fighting for a share of spend in the premium high Street.’
For now, Jaeger lives to fight another day — while wearing the perfect pink coat, of course.