Boden’s boring not any more!
For years the butt of jokes, the yummy mummy’s favourite has got a chic makeover – and is moving in on the High St
THEY could be images from a glossy portfolio for the latest lusted-after couturier. In one photograph, a flamehaired model reclines on an antique chair, her lithe limbs encased in a sheer, black dress with pussybow neck.
In another, she wears a sleek, blue polo-neck and military-style skirt as she gazes moodily into the distance in a pair of chic, black-rimmed glasses.
The same model is also pictured in a stylish Paisley print top, an opulent furtrimmed hooded parka and a scarlet Marilyn Monroe-esque coat, her decolletage exposed suggestively underneath.
But this series of pictures isn’t advertising a new high- end fashion campaign. Far from it.
In fact, it’s the latest collection from a brand that was once about as far from the catwalk as you could imagine: Boden.
Founded by Old Etonian Johnnie Boden in 1991, the brand started life as middlemarket clothing ranges for men, women and children that could be ordered through its homely catalogues and delivered straight to customers’ front doors.
The emphasis was on comfortable, affordable designs — Johnnie famously cajoled his friends and family into modelling outfits — but over time its tendency to play it safe earned Boden a reputation for being frumpy and unfashionable.
In 2012, profits fell after even its most devoted customers — Boden’s core market is 35 to 50-year-old middle-class women — criticised the brand on parenting website Mumsnet for being ‘smug’, ‘overpriced’ and ‘twee’.
But in the three years since then, something extraordinary has happened.
Boden has gained legions of A-list, fashion-forward fans — among them Samantha Cameron, Angelina Jolie and Michelle Obama — who have been hooked not by its reliable staples but its sunny, eye-catching new designs. In the past year, profits have surged by 31 per cent to £32 million (from sales of nearly £281 million), making Johnnie Boden, 54, one of the wealthiest men in retail, with an estimated fortune of £300 million.
And this week the brand — which has 1.6 million customers — announced its plans to open shops across the UK and beyond, pitting it against High Street giants Marks & Spencer and John Lewis. So how has Boden turned itself from a mail-order catalogue for middle-class mums into an international business loved by fashionistas? CENTRAL to its success is a shift in the style of the clothing it produces. The pieces in its latest adverts are from ‘Boden Icons’ — a 17-piece womenswear collection that includes the £149 ‘ Brigadier skirt’, £ 399 ‘ Hyde parka’ and ‘Spitalfields coat’, also £399.
Each item is being made in a limited run of 100, not released until next week, but fashion editors are already drooling over the luxe fabrics and exquisite cuts.
Considering a run- of-the-mill Boden cardigan costs £45, the new clothes aren’t cheap, but experts say the inflated price is all part of a move to boost desirability.
‘It’s proof that they’re focusing on fashion and following trends very closely,’ says Femail fashion editor Eliza Scarborough.
‘The patterned trousers and cosy knitwear they’ve been selling for two decades are very on-trend, so now is the perfect time to capitalise on that.
‘ They’re also experimenting. Some of the pieces in the new collection — such as the tweed boucle top — could be Chanel.’
The latest advertising campaign shows off not only Boden’s new garments, but a much slicker approach to marketing.
The model is Karen Elson, who has graced the cover of Vogue and frequently features on the catwalks of Chanel, Gucci and Versace.
Choosing a face from the fashion world was a bold move — there was a backlash from loyal Bodenistas after it recruited Helena Christensen in 2012 — but Eliza says this time it will pay off.
‘They were praised in the early days for using models who looked like normal people, but using well-established names is a nice touch. It shows they’re not all about cardies any more.’ The new adverts have been masterminded by Boo George, a trendy photographer who works for Louis Vuitton and Barneys in New York — another shrewd move to bring Boden to the attention of younger, more fashion-savvy customers.
But these two aren’t the only new faces to join Brand Boden in recent years.
In 2013, the firm recruited Penny Herriman as global brand director — a role created for her. Formerly CEO of Isobar, a digital marketing agency that claims it can ‘transform brands’, she was taken on to build Boden’s overseas reputation.
Even more significant is the expertise of product director Matthew Hilgeman, whom Boden poached from American Eagle Outfitters in June. Matthew has also worked for Levi and Abercrombie & Fitch, both retailers that specialise in high quality, aspirational products — the direction in which Boden seems to be moving.
‘This was a genius move,’ says style and brand expert Nick Ede. ‘They’ve ushered in a supermodel to lead the brand and now they’ve got one of U.S. retail’s big hitters to launch the product to the High Street shopper. It hammers home a pretty clear message: Boden is no longer a guilty, British, middle-class secret, but a serious global player.’ KEY to its expansion is a polished, sophisticated website. Lively, colourful and peppered with fun, interactive content, it’s a far cry from the often-uninspiring catalogues of old.
In August 2013, Boden hired Sue MacMillan, formerly head of web strategy at Hobbs, as e-commerce director to boost its online presence and funnel sales away from the outdated catalogue model.
It worked — by the end of that year, 90 per cent of sales were online (up 8 per cent on the previous year), with the website receiving 23 million unique visitors in 2014.
The brand is also using the web to make waves internationally: last month, it launched an Australian website, following country-specific sites in the U.S., Germany, Austria and France.
And last September it started a chatty, Instagram-style blog, The Great Boden Diaries, alongside the main site, featuring guest posts and interviews with trendy figures such as DJ Lauren Laverne.
Boden’s online foray certainly seems to be reaping rewards.
More than 50 per cent of Boden’s sales come from outside the UK, with sales across 60 countries.
Locations of the new stores haven’t been confirmed, but insiders say many will be abroad, cementing Boden as an international brand.
‘They won’t need many — you can serve whole countries with a few shops in strategic locations,’ explains George MacDonald, executive editor of Retail Week magazine. ‘It fits into a growing trend of “multi-channel” retailers, where brands combine real-life shops with booming web sales.’
Boden has hired swish London property experts Twenty Retail to find the perfect locations. If they’re anything like its existing store — in Park Royal, West London — we can expect exposed wooden floors, rails of colourful clothes and beaming assistants.
‘The real secret behind its comeback is adhering to quintessential British values,’ says George MacDonald. ‘ Not only does that sell well overseas, but it’s very much in fashion. As long as it sticks to what it knows, there’s no limit to where it can go from here.’