There has been a shift on the high street. Seasoned shoppers are now taking a stealthier approach when it comes to snapping up more affordable fast-fashion brands. As more high-street retailers offer limited-edition lines, including Uniqlo U, designed by Christophe Lemaire, Mango Premium and H&M Studio, there’s a growing appetite for well-made, quality pieces that transcend the seasons and last longer. For one brand, however, this is business as usual.
While you might not know Karin Gustafsson by name, you will own something she has designed. She is the creative director of Cos, the high-street store that has clothed women across the globe in its understated, practical garments for the past 11 years. Owned by the retail giant H&M, Cos does do fast fashion, in that there are new drops on the shop floor each week, but it also offers a serious step up in quality, producing clothes that are designed to last. Its sweet spot, though, is its pricing: with white shirts from £55 and merino knitwear from £69, it is reassuringly affordable, but not disposable.
Gustafsson, one of the founding design team, says an emphasis on quality was part of the original manifesto. “We spotted a gap in the market for a brand that would offer quality products but at a good price. Then we started discussing as a team what that could be,” she says, when I meet her at Cos’s UK headquarters on Regent Street, London. “We talked a lot about timelessness. It was also important to be modern. Ultimately, we wanted to offer something understated — a functional collection that will last.”
Timelessness is the Cos USP. Rather than copying runway pieces, it focuses on items that can be worn repeatedly. The design process is dictated by two ‘“directions” a year, based on art and architecture, rather than trends. With modern, graphic and off-kilter silhouettes — think cocoon coats and drop-waist cropped pants — often in a monochrome or muted palette, it’s the next step for shoppers who have outgrown H&M and Zara. “We are about wardrobe staples, so it’s the reinvented classics the customer comes back for. We always have a classic coat, and a white shirt for men and women.”
This trend-bucking approach, with scrupulous attention to form, fabrication and function, has seen the brand expand its physical presence to more than 200 stores worldwide. While H&M doesn’t release figures for its individual entities, sales for the group, which includes & Other Stories and Monki, among others, increased by 4% in 2017.
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The key to shopping the high street successfully is speed — limited-edition collections don’t linger in-store for long — and steadfast purpose. Your seasonal shopping list should look like this: a slim-fit gingham suit from Massimo Dutti (with suiting you can mix and match, meaning more bang for your buck); Arket’s crepe boilersuit; Uniqlo’s high-rise cigarette jeans — the best denim on the high street — and a silk wrap blouse from Topshop Boutique. Cos’s new collection, which drops from tomorrow, includes a waxed trench (“It’s transitional so you can wear layers underneath”) and cream collarless shirting — perfect for a workwear update. So, how to dress according to the woman who created Cos style? “Fill your wardrobe with basics and essentials. Have a few things you can mix and match, but that are quite understated. Then you can add in new proportions or seasonal elements.” Proof that practical need never mean boring.
All Cos items available from tomorrow; cosstores.com
