IN DETAIL Podcast: Shaftesbury Retail Director Samantha Bain-Mollison & L'Estrange Co-Founder Tom Horne

Broadcast by TheIndustry.fashion on Wednesday 30 July, this IN DETAIL podcast with Samantha Bain-Mollison and Tom Horne can be streamed via Spotify or Apple Music.

It’s been just over a year since retailers across the nation first re-opened their doors after a historic enforced lockdown that had lasted almost three months. Little did we know then that two more lockdowns were to come with devastating effects for some of fashion’s biggest names.

However with much of the UK’s adult population vaccinated against COVID-19 and promises from the Government that it will not enforce another lockdown, retailers can now turn their minds from survival to revival.

Today, The Industry brings you a special edition of our IN DETAIL podcast in partnership with landlord Shaftesbury.

Shaftesbury – whose 16-acre estate covers eclectic London neighbourhoods stretching across Seven Dials, parts of Covent Garden, Carnaby and Soho among others – has always taken a curated approach to its retail line-up and has a strong track record of supporting independent brands and designers (in particular through its Start-up With Seven Dials initiative) , pioneering pop-up retail and encouraging experimentation with innovative new formats.

Far from feeling tempted to veer from this approach during the pandemic, it has doubled down and supported many brands in the opening of, in some cases, their first retail store. In particular, it has seen strong demand from digital brands looking for cut-through with consumers as the online space gets more and more crowded, as well as companies taking previously online-only concepts, such as fashion rental, into the realm of the physical.

One such brand to make the move is London menswear label L’Estrange, which having experimented with pop-ups throughout the Shaftesbury estate, made the plunge and took a permanent store in Seven Dials during the pandemic.

Lauretta Roberts, editor in chief of TheIndustry.fashion, talks to L’Estrange co-founder Tom Horne and Shaftesbury retail director Samantha Bain-Mollison about how the landlord and brand worked together on making physical retail a success and why they feel that post-pandemic a new, reinvigorated retail landscape will emerge.