UK. Specialist retailer Tie Rack is gaining considerable new momentum through the recent launch of upscale accessories brand Black Label, according to CEO Jo O’Connor.
Its new line was launched in September and has been rolled out successfully in 27 of Tie Rack’s 186 stores, including flagship local market stores and selected airport locations.
Talking to The Moodie Report at Tie Rack’s London Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 store today, O’Connor said: “Black Label was deliberately positioned to bring the Tie Rack range upmarket. We have customers, particularly in airports, who are looking for something more exclusive and luxury.”
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Jo O’Connor (pictured at Heathrow Airport Terminal 5): “The Black Label range is particularly suited to airports” |
Tie Rack is one of the pioneers of specialist airport retailing. O’Connor was formerly Commercial Director of WDF (now World Duty Free Group), a position she left earlier this year to take up executive leadership of Tie Rack Retail Group (incorporating Tie Rack, Rolling Luggage and The Collection).
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“The Black Label range is particularly suited to airports,” she said. “It’s a designer-type product but with very competitive pricing.
“We aimed for it to be 5% of the business overall but that’s with it only being in 27 stores. Where we have Black Label in-store it is already representing 15-20% of sales.”
The company said the range is aimed at the sophisticated global business traveller looking for “smart indulgences designed to work with both a formal and fashionable working wardrobe”.
Under the direction of Creative Director Raffaele Caroli, Black Label comprises collections for men and women. “Initially we anticipated 50/50 sales between the men’s and women’s ranges,” said O’Connor, “but so far it’s around 70/30 in favour of the women’s lines. Women are early adopters.”
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The men’s collection offers a range of accessories from cufflinks to gloves to ties in classic colourways, each with a distinctive twist. The range includes scarves in silk, wool and cashmere and on-trend, reversible pocket squares.
The women’s collection is designed for the busy working woman “who also wants to invest in carefully
chosen, stylish wardrobe accents”. It features reversible silk snoods, silk scarves and felted wool hats, unique to Black Label. Other items include luxurious 100% cashmere blankets, positioned to double as a “stylish inflight essential”.
In Spring the collection will be extended while Autumn 2012 will see “the full-on extension of the range”, O’Connor said.
Look out for more coverage of Black Label in this week’s edition of The Moodie Report e-Zine, including exclusive Moodie View footage of the Heathrow Terminal 5 Black Label offer.
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Above and below: Black Label enjoys a front of store position at Tie Rack’s Heathrow Terminal 5 outlet |
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