BESIDE a swimming pool in Rajasthan 10 years ago, Adam Brown discovered a problem that needed solving.
“All the women looked great in swimwear, but the men were in shapeless, baggy, elasticated shorts. One guy had his bum hanging out. That might be fine for a 17-year-old but not for someone in his fifties,” said Brown.
“I remember everyone having to get changed for lunch. It made me think about how men’s wardrobes are made up. I wanted a pair of nice shorts I could swim in.”
Brown, who had spent eight years working as a portrait photographer for Tatler and Harper’s Bazaar magazines, wasted no time getting to work on stylish swimwear for men.
“I did some market research and couldn’t find anything that fitted this brief,” he said.
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He launched the Orlebar Brown website in February 2007, wooing consumers with his posh shorts.
Today, Orlebar Brown sells casual holidaywear alongside its swimwear for men. It has five shops in London, one in Cannes and another in the Hamptons on Long Island, New York. The brand is stocked in 300 retailers worldwide, with about 65% of sales generated in Britain and America.
The company, with 75 staff, has its head office at the flagship store in Notting Hill, west London. It reported sales of £11m last year and expects to reach £16m in 2015. Two years ago, the company won £8m of investment from Piper, the private equity firm behind clothing brand Boden, Diet Chef and the Rug Company.
Brown was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the first of two children. His father was a marketing consultant for Johnnie Walker whisky and Dunhill tobacco, and his mother was a seamstress.
The family moved to Winchester in the mid-1970s where Brown attended the Henry Beaufort School, achieving three O-levels and three A-levels. He took a course in publishing and history of art at Oxford Polytechnic, but had little idea what to do next.
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Brown worked in the mail room at Dorland Advertising, a London agency, before a stint as an estate agent for Savills: “I drifted from career to career.”
In 1988 he started working as a fundraiser for charities, staying in the not-for-profit sector for eight years before deciding that he wanted to become a photographer. In 1996, he enrolled to study photography at City of Westminster College for two years and was able to secure some high-profile clients.
But he knew a career in photography could take him only so far. “I wasn’t getting the jobs I wanted and I was never going to progress into the advertising league. I felt photography wasn’t something I wanted to do in the long term.”
Brown hung up his camera to focus on fashion. He took a three-day course in starting a business at the Portobello Business Centre in west London.
Some friends were not convinced by this career change. “They were supportive and they kindly bought a pair but a lot of them were laughing at the idea that I was making shorts only for people with good bodies,” said Brown. “But I persevered.”
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He had started the venture with a friend, Julia Simpson-Orlebar, who stepped away a year after the website went live.
For Brown, the start-up stage was less about launching a perfect product and more about testing consumer appetite. “The fit was wrong, the sizes were wrong and the cost was wrong but I wanted to get it out there and see if there was a market.”
He invested £40,000 of savings into the early development stages, spending £6,000 on a website and about £25,000 on a stock of shorts, which he offered for £120 each. As online sales picked up, Brown realised he was on to something.
The watershed moment came in 2009 when Brown got his products into Selfridges. “I was terrified about it. You have to professionalise yourself, and people ask you questions you don’t know the answers to. I was learning, but it was a huge step in the right direction.”
Brown now uses manufacturers in Portugal as well as London. About 30% of his sales are online.
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In 2010, to help cope with demand, Brown obtained £170,000 in a fundraising led by Venrex, the investment firm behind names such as the Just-Eat website and Astley Clarke jewellers.
“I could have raised the money from friends and family but I think it’s important to surround yourself with people who have skills to bring to your business,” said Brown, 49.
He remains the largest shareholder, and does not forget the pains that came with starting from scratch. “It was me in charge of the figures. I held too much stock and made bad decisions on fabric colours. But it’s all part of the learning.”
Piper’s investment in 2013 provided him with a structured approach to expansion and a chance to think about the future. “We are focused on males but I want to get women thinking about us when they are buying for men,” he said.
Brown lives in Notting Hill with his partner, Tom.
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He advises budding entrepreneurs to listen. “Identify people who can help and don’t be afraid to ask questions. And be aware of what’s going on in the marketplace. You should be looking beyond the four walls of your business.”