A South West fashion brand is looking for a permanent bricks and mortar presence in the region.
Ex-Topshop fashion director Gillian Ridley Whittle launched lifestyle-loungewear label Peachaus in March 2022 with Michael Kors chief executive Cerdric Wilmotte.
Ms Ridley Whittle, who now lives in Chippenham, has held roles with large high street names, including Topshop and prior to that was trading director for lingerie and beauty at Marks & Spencer.
She told BusinessLive that it was always her plan to launch her own fashion brand. Ms Ridley Whittle conceived Peachaus as an “antidote” to the current fashion system and has an “ambitious vision” to expand the brand beyond underwear and clothing.
She said: “Why shouldn’t a fashion brand be a space for optimism, storytelling, spotlighting other organisations and individuals doing brilliant things? We think it should. We want to collaborate with amazing creatives with our customers, giving them the opportunity to actively shape the dialogue and artistic direction we take.
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“Ultimately we want to provide a platform that supports and celebrates people and raises voices of hope.”
Ms Ridley Whittle spent time in Australia as director of womenswear, lingerie, footwear and accessories for Target, it was here that she came up with the first concept for her brand.
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She explained: “[It] was very much about supporting people and the planet with ethical clothing. It was clothing that was a fluid wardrobe of products, to suit everyone, everyday. It was that whole athleisure, sleep-lounge concept and it was also about having a blend of working from home and not being tied to an office.”
Mr Wilmotte, who at the time was interim chief executive for Versace, loved the idea and wanted to “invest in planet centric brands”, so invested in Peachaus. When Topshop was sold to ASOS, he told Ms Ridley Whittle that he would partner with her.
She explained: “I was incredibly stressed, working long hours and not being kind to myself. It was a hitting the wall sort of moment and realising I wasn’t happy and I was the only person who could do something about that.
“Fashion is so intrinsic to who I am, I have always loved the industry and I could not imagine myself not being in the industry. Then I thought ‘you can be a changemaker, you can be someone who, with other people, you could be part of a movement of change in the industry and not be a bystander’. So I realised that with my experience I had responsibility and that’s why I decided I had to turn myself into being part of the solution and not part of the problem for the planet.”
Mr Ridley Whittle received £25,000 from the British Business Bank to kick start Peachaus.
She has a powerful team behind her including product director, Sophie Morgenthaler, who hails from Victoria’s Secret and Myla. Sarah Edwards, the label’s ops director, has been a board-level executive for over 20 years, also working at Arcadia and Wallis, and more recently, focusing her energies on ethically oriented brands like Finisterre and Aspiga.
Peachaus has chosen factories in Portugal and India for their social and environmental credentials.
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The collection of underwear, lifestyle separates and sleepwear is crafted entirely from recycled Italian lace, ethically sourced cotton and sustainable bamboo, in line with the label’s positive-impact pledge. Pieces feature embroidered motifs of the peach blossom and Australian swallow.
'I think we need to be a global brand, but we started out in the South West'
The brand has also launched a fluid ‘simply sized’ system that supports different body shapes and sizes. It has also expanded the range to offer broader and more inclusive sizing.
To celebrate and showcase its ethos Peachaus hosts events to provide knowledge and education so people can try to “make better choices”.
Ms Ridley Whittle said: “So people can try to make better choices and not buy into fast fashion because it is killing the planet and doing so much damage. We really want to be a fresh approach to retail.
“So we also have these parties that we do. We are trying to be experiential, so we do parties, bra fits and fizz. I will talk about why I set up the business. So we are only just over a year in, it’s been a tough first year about the funding, but I am really excited about the future.”
In just one year Peachaus has done a lot and is now looking for local premises and local investors.
The brand had a 10 week pop up at Fenwicks Bond Street over Christmas, it has done two wholesale fairs, a pop up in Leeds and one in Birmingham, plus two in London. Fenwicks has agreed to stock Peachaus as it moves to wholesale, plus Urban Outfitters has agreed to take it in its Oxford Street store. The brand will also be stocked on sustainable marketplace Wolf & Badger.
Ms Ridley Whittle said: “I would love to have a shop in Bath if I could get a good deal, that would be amazing.”
Expanding on this she said that she hopes to hold a Bath pop up in September that she can take right through to Christmas 2023, and see what the response will be.
She continued: “I know there are a few empty units in Bath, so it would be great if I could get someone who wants to support me.”
Already Ms Ridley Whittle has met some “incredible” people who are part of the same “crusade”.
She said: “It is a crusade. It has been really inspiring because I believe that we can really make a difference and I believe that we can educate the consumer to buy better and less and we can change the industry.
'I would love to have a shop in Bath'
“It is already changing quite fast with the rise of second hand and sustainable clothing; made in much better factories, that pay their workers really well and they make it an industry which you’re proud to work in rather than one that has been abused.
“But our whole thing is, yes we sell products but we are about building a platform to do good.”
Peachaus has been working with a woman who is in the process of setting up a social enterprise to support ex-female offenders and giving them a career, training them to make underwear and clothing.
Ms Ridley Whittle added: “And we are all about supporting diversity and mentoring young talent, in particular from underprivileged backgrounds.”
Looking further forward Ms Ridley Whittle told BusinessLive that she would like to open a London store and more channels, whether that be department stores or independent boutiques.
She explained: “I want to make sure we keep a premium feel for our products, but I am looking to secure a number of really good partners as we need to get our volumes up and have one or two shops, or keep doing pop ups and get the parties going as they are so much fun and they’ve worked really well.”
The brand has already hosted two events at yoga studio JanJan Yoga Studio in West Kington.
Ms Ridley Whittle said: “So basically getting some funding first as I want to have a campaign to bring our purpose to life. Two, opening up new channels and that includes having a couple of pop up shops, and then three is obviously driving out the experience, brand awareness and the experience. I have very big goals but that is because I think we need to be a global brand, but we started out in the South West.”
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