UK. Buckley Jewellery is making a foray into Asian travel retail, presenting an extensive product range in its first appearance at the TFWA Asia Pacific last month.
Founded in 1989 by Adrian Buckley, the Leeds-based jewellery company today has a well established retail business and a strong presence in the travel retail and duty free channel, primarily in the UK and across Europe.
Buckley Jewellery has listings in over 40 travel retail locations with leading retailers such as The Nuance Group, Aelia and World Duty Free, where it claims to be the number one brand by volume. Its inflight partners include British Airways, and it also has a significant cruise ship business with Harding Brothers and P&O Ferries.
The company also supplies jewellery to about 300 independent retailers in the UK, including Marks & Spencer, Harrods and Debenhams – all of which are sold under the retailer’s own name.
Speaking to The Moodie Report, Buckley Jewellery Sales Director Neil Thompson said the company’s goal at the TFWA Asia Pacific show was to expand Buckley’s reach outside Europe as well as reintroduce the company’s premium Attwood & Sawyer brand.
“We’re a very old established brand but not in Asia, that’s why we’re here. We’ve gained a lot of new listings recently with various airlines and we’re really looking to capitalise on that and giving a big push with the branded side of our business in 2010 and 2011,” said Thompson.
“In the last year we’ve made a concerted effort to relaunch our brand. We’ve got three brands at the moment: Buckley London, Buckley Signature and Attwood & Sawyer, which used to be one of the biggest travel retail brands in the world – it’s over 50 years old.”
Established in 1956 and manufactured in Wales, Attwood & Sawyer was bought by Buckley Jewellery and left dormant for several years. Recognising the vintage and classic quality of the brand, the company took the old samples – still in pristine condition – out of storage and is hoping to resurrect it with new designs.
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Buckley Jewellery is reviving its premium Attwood & Sawyer brand with fresh designs while keeping its vintage appeal | |
“Nobody else is doing this type of jewellery now: it’s very vintage, indulgent and classic. We’ve been showing the samples to our current retail clients and some new ones in the Middle East and there’s been a fantastic response,” Thompson said.
The revival of the heritage brand is currently in the works, he added, with Buckley’s London-based design team putting the range together.
Thompson categorises the three Buckley brands on a price pyramid: Buckley London at the base with a price range of US$10 to US$45, the middle-tier Buckley Signature with prices between US$30 to US$85, and the premium Attwood & Sawyer at the top with a price range of US$60 to over US$300. The bulk of the company’s business is from the core Buckley brand.
Buckley London is the company’s core brand of fashion/costume jewellery. The 2010 collection consists of over 350 wearable styles ranging from rings, wrist wear, earrings, necklaces, sets and brooches.
The colour palettes of zircon, tanzanite, jet and amber reflect the latest catwalk colour trends, and each piece is designed using the finest components such as Murano glass and Swarovski crystals. Variety is key in this versatile brand, with collections including the new Colour Stories, the Sweetie Collection, Hand Cut Glass and the bridal pearl range.
Buckley Signature comprises 50-60 styles, with large, Swarovski-based statement jewellery plated in 18 carat gold or silver. Precious and semi-precious stones and pearls are also key elements in this line.
Attwood & Sawyer, the company’s vintage range, consists of a limited 20-30 skus. On show at the TFWA Asia Pacific Singapore was a selection of 20 to 30 year old samples that showcased an indulgent style, intricate details and fine componentry.
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Buckley Jewellery strives to be a “one-stop shop”, offering price points ranging from less than US$10 to over US$300 as well as a wide variety of styles from its affordable Buckley London line to its premium Attwood & Sawyer brand | |
The new 2010 collection has been doing “incredible numbers”, said Thompson. “We’ve been seeing really, really positive like-for-like sales with existing clients.”
Apart from its wide range of price points and styles, Buckley Jewellery also counts a fashion-forward design team and high street retail experience among its strengths.
Thompson said: “We think we have an advantage over other jewellery companies because of our experience of the High Street and the amount of product we work on: At any one time we would have 400 styles at Marks & Spencer, so we can use that sales data to determine what would work best for our travel retail business.
“And because of the significant size of our retail arm and our high street arm, a good proportion of our design team is very fashion-oriented. Because they’re working with clothing retailers, they know all the catwalk trends that are coming out of Paris and out of Europe so they’re designing jewellery to complement those products. We’re not a jewellery manufacturer; we’re a jewellery designer.
“We believe that is our distinct advantage, because at Buckley we don’t do anything else – we’re not an accessories brand, we don’t do watches, we don’t do sunglasses, we only do jewellery – 100%. We have a design team of over 20 people based in London who travel the world getting ideas; we send people to Los Angeles and Tokyo, because we are expected to bring newness to our retail clients. And the great thing for the brand is that we can tap into that knowledge. We know what works.”
For more information, contact Neil Thompson, Sales Director, Buckley Jewellery. Tel: +44 (0) 113 230 5292. Fax: +44 (0) 113 230 6115. E-mail: neil.thompson@buckley-jewellery.com. Visit www.buckley-jewellery.com.
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