NOT GOING OUT HAS MEANT SOARING SALES AT WEIRD FISH

A year of not having anywhere to dress up smart for has paid off for one clothing business.

Weird Fish, the casual clothing retailer, which has its headquarters in Tewkesbury, saw online sales soar last year, despite stores being closed.

Thanks to glad rags remaining unworn in wardrobes across the world as we all rocked the athleisure look on Zoom calls, the retailer reported an 84 per cent e-commerce sales uplift and a doubling of new customers.

That upward trend continues, with growth accelerating since lockdown eased.

The company reported an impressive 354 per cent rise in e-commerce sales, and overall sales uplifts of 108 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

But such success wouldn’t have happened if Weird Fish hadn’t invested heavily in its digital systems.

According to the boss John Stockton, who joined the business in 2008 when it had around a dozen staff in a small industrial unit in Cheltenham, every bit of capital the company has spent over the last few years has been in technology.

“The only clever thing we have done is invest in digital. Our spend rose 400500 per cent over the last three years, and in people who have contemporary knowledge and skills,” said John. “We will have 20 people in our digital, customer and marketing teams by the end of the year, up from just three a few years ago.”

Last year the retailer more than doubled its customer numbers to 250,000 and this year it looks on course to reach almost 600,000. It is also attracting a broader demographic thanks to a widening of its product range.

A bit of an Animal when it comes to retail nous

John has substantial retail experience in the casual clothing sector. For eight years before joining Weird Fish, he was CEO of niche surf brand Animal, growing it into a profitable international lifestyle business.

“Having built that business up I wanted to get involved in a lifestyle leisure brand that had good values and the potential to grow.”

Two years after joining Weird Fish he led a buyout, allowing its founder Doug Tilling to retire, and in 2017 he undertook a secondary buyout with private equity fund Total Capital Partners.

At that time Weird Fish was mainly selling menswear but was growing its range of ethical clothing. This is not fast fashion. One of its key products is the iconic macaroni sweater. These are circular knitted, take longer to manufacture and are now made out of sustainable materials.

“We were ahead of the curve,” said John. “As a small and agile business, we had good relationships with our suppliers, some of which I inherited and some I introduced to the business, and we were always pretty strong on the provenance of our fabrics.

Approximately 30 per cent of Weird Fish’s clothing ranges come from Turkey, with the majority from India because its clothes are made mainly from natural fibres. Some come from Bangladesh and a few from China, which provides the synthetics for its waterproofs.

In 2017 the company decided to boost its commitment to sustainability further.

“We want 80 per cent of our products to be made from organic, recycled or regenerated yarns by 2022.

“This year we will be about 60 per cent, so we’re getting there but we’ve got a way to go,” said John.

It’s also about ethical supply. “We have worked with our Turkish macaroni sweater supplier and one of our two main Indian suppliers for 20 years, the other main Indian supplier for 10 years.”

Weird Fish’s sustainability pledge doesn’t stop at clothing. It was the first UK company to use paper bags made from grass pulp.

“I found the product in Germany. It uses a fraction of the water that wood pulp uses to make paper,” said John.

Brexit boost to international opportunities

Weird Fish now sells across the world, with 180 stockists overseas, predominantly in France, Germany and Holland. Eight per cent of its e-commerce is international.

The retailer has dealt with Brexit by paying the duty for its overseas customers so they don’t have to. Next year it will move into bonded warehouses with Torque Logistics, its third-party logistics supplier, so the issues of VAT and duty are also removed. An unexpected Brexit benefit is that because the barriers of entry into the EU are now similar to other countries, the opportunities for growth in USA and Australia (where its online sales are growing) are even more interesting.

Shops or no shops? Shops, but in better and more considered locations

Weird Fish has 17 clothing stores, mainly in destination locations such as Weymouth, Newquay, St Ives and Scarborough. “They are designed to introduce our brand to customers,” said John. “We have also invested in digital in our stores, in click and collect, click and reserve. When we look at store performance, we talk about their revenues, but also customer engagement, data collection and their general reach.”

Equally important to Weird Fish are its 300 independent stockists, and with the UK’s high streets looking increasingly sad as the bland national chains fall by the wayside, John thinks that independent stores could be seeing a renaissance (he has inside information here: his wife owns an independent clothing store in Blandford Forum).

“They are distinctive, provide a unique offering, have a really good local customer base and are increasingly engaging digitally with their customers. Some are doing local delivery,” he said.

“The regional independents are important to us too, such as Edge of the World in the Lake District which has opened a partner store for us in Keswick.

“We have also launched a B2B portal so our stockists can check stock availability.”

A rag trade veteran with decades of experience

John, 60, has been in consumer businesses almost all of his career. “I started in garment manufacturing in the early 1990s, working for a big manufacturer for M&S. I like seeing the physical garments put together. I have always been attracted to brands that have integrity, are a bit different and we can take to a wider audience. That happened at Animal as we made surf wear more mainstream and accessible.”

Weird Fish will continue its digital development, invest in sustainability (it’s come up with a great phrase for this: “The only way is ethics”), engage more with suppliers and partners and continue to expand its range.

Despite its online success over the last 18 months, it’s easy to forget what things felt like a few months back in the UK and John is grateful for the support of all partners across the globe.

“We wanted to do the right thing, support our staff, suppliers and partners where we could and continue in daily contact with our overseas suppliers offering whatever help we can as we appreciate that Covid is affecting many of our key supplier countries differently.”