AllSaints has taken the design and distribution of its footwear and leather bag ranges back in house, Drapers can reveal.
In 2018, the British fashion brand signed a licensing agreement with Hong-Kong listed firm Global Brands Group (GBG) to design, manufacture and distribute its men's and women's footwear, socks, jewelry, and cold-weather accessories, such as hats and gloves.
However, the license with GBG ended last year, when the licensing business collapsed into administration on 2 November.
AllSaints will now design its men’s and women’s footwear and leather bags in its studio in Spitalfields, east London, starting with its autumn/winter 22 collection.
The brand will continue to work with several long-standing suppliers of AllSaints footwear, who partnered with GBG over the past few years.
Around 70% of footwear at AllSaints is made in Europe, in Portugal and Spain. The remainder of the footwear is made in China, including specialist hand finishing.
AllSaints has been building an in-house footwear team across sales and design, headed by Matt O'Connor, who has been appointed as head of global footwear. He joined in December from GBG, where he had been vice-president, global sales director since 2017. Before that, he worked at Pentland Brands, Adidas and Reebok.
The premium brand has also taken on eight expert footwear heads from varying backgrounds across the UK and US, and will be also recruiting a footwear production specialist to partner with its vendors.
AllSaints' design team oversees all product designs to ensure there is a consistent product handwriting, but for some categories, such as jewellery and winter accessories, it works with specialist partners.
Peter Wood, CEO of AllSaints, told Drapers: “We’ve taken on some people from GBG – good, talented people that were looking after AllSaints from GBG. I’m proud of what we’ve done, and our business will benefit from it. I’m very happy to say that we believe footwear is a big opportunity for our brand.”
AllSaints sells an equal split of men's and women's wear, as well as footwear and accessories. The British fashion label launched its first handbag range in 2015.
Original Article: AllSaints moves footwear design in house (drapersonline.com)