Talk
The son of a dressmaker, Luke was just 12 when he made his first garment. “There was a sewing room at the back of our house, and for the first 12 years of my life, I was treading on the pins in that carpet,” he says. “Then one day, I decided to have a go myself. I found out I was actually good at it — sewing came naturally, without a doubt. From 12 to 15, I was making all sorts of clothes, mainly for myself.” That all changed when he turned 16, and started going out with his mates. “This was the mid-90s, it was a far dressier scene then. Teenagers actually went out in suits. That was a catalyst for me to start making clothes for friends.” Luke carried that passion for menswear through sixth form and onto a design degree at St Martin’s. It was there that he reconnected with Simon Poole, a longtime family friend and fellow Brummie who was running French Connection Menswear at the time. They, alongside Director of the brand Deborah Poole, soon decided to develop their own label. “We wanted to be the first Birmingham menswear fashion brand,” he recalls. “You had a plethora in London, a handful from Manchester and Nottingham, but nobody had ever really done it in Birmingham.” The original plan was for Luke to graduate and get two years of industry experience. But after graduating in 2000 and landing a job in River Island on the high street, Luke lasted all of four months. “I handed in my notice and called Simon, saying ‘let’s do it now, and make our own mistakes.’ That’s when we started the brand.” The brand, such as it was then, initially consisted of just three T-shirts. Luke remembers going up and down the country “in a clapped out van my brother gave me,” knocking on doors and pitching to independent businesses. From those three T-shirts, Luke and Simon slowly built out their range. “As a business we were earning nothing, it was really hand-tomouth,” he says. “But we were constantly learning, and getting more accounts each season, at a time when independents were the lifeblood of our industry.” Since launching the brand in 2001, Luke has seen the fashion world go through some of its biggest changes, with physical stores increasingly taking a back seat to online shopping. “The industry is such a different place now, with e-commerce and social media,” he says. “Luckily, we were an early adopter of the web side of the industry; we set up our first online store 11 years ago. It’s the most profitable part of what we do.” Being able to navigate the latest online trends and engage with customers on
SS17
social media has been a big part of the brand’s success, but Luke knows that followers alone don’t guarantee longevity. “The social media shift has revolutionised our industry,” he says. “Instagram is killing it for the young fashion generation; a kid in his bedroom can create a label and become cool overnight. Back in the day we had to graft for years to get industry recognition and respect, and build a brand from that. These younger designers are getting an instant following overnight, but they are burning themselves out… We’re building on our history and experience, as well as on digital.” One of the most rewarding aspects of his career, he adds, has been gaining popularity and credibility as a Birmingham-based brand. Indeed, the company’s growth over the last 16 years mirrors the renaissance the city itself has undergone, as more and more local businesses have flourished and the rest of the world has slowly woken up to everything Birmingham has to offer. “Pre-2003, before the new Bullring development, we were stuck in a bit of a slump, trailing behind Manchester,” he
SS17
says. “But the Bullring and the constant evolution of areas like Digbeth have changed all that. I was travelling back from the Far East last week, via Paris, and in a French magazine there was a 10 page article all about visiting Birmingham, praising its art scene, its shopping, its architecture — isn’t that great?” Not that there aren’t still all manner of curveballs facing the brand, and British businesses in general. “We’ve faced recent challenges that we’ve been going through since Brexit, with the weakening of the pound,” he says. “Maintaining margins, while providing great product within our pricing structure is where the difficulty lies.” But in typical Brummie style, Luke remains confident that the label is resilient enough to whether any changes that might come its way. “If things aren’t quite working, you can always rework them in time for your next collection,” he says. “That’s what we do! We’re in a business that reinvents itself all the time.” You can visit the new LUKE flagship store in Link Street Bullring or visit luke1977.com 57