RIVER ISLAND
BRAND HISTORY
River Island is the latest incarnation of the retailing dynasty spanning over fifty-five years. It is a retail success story that has evolved from a small lock-up shop in East London selling wool and ladies clothing, expanding quickly into a nationwide chain known as Lewis Separates. In 1968 the stores were renamed “Chelsea Girl” becoming the first UK chain of fashion boutiques with innovative designs and store format, and adding Concept Man in 1983, introducing menswear to the business portfolio. The evolution continued in 1988 when the chain was re-branded to River Island, bringing the men’s and womenswear offer under one brand name and reflecting the new, themed concept of offering good quality, fashionable designs targeted at the 18-35 year old market.
BRAND CONCEPT
River Island operates in the highly competitive and ever changing fashion market. We offer wearable fashion for men and women, and our customers can always find their wardrobe needs in a River island store. Whether it is an outfit for going out, relaxing at home, something for work you will find something you love at River Island, we also sell great shoes and a full range of accessories to complete the look.
The River Island girl is savvy, sexy, fun and funky, confident and loves fashion. The River Island guy is contemporary, authentic, relaxed and independent. The brand’s target customers are between 18 – 30, they are discerning shoppers who enjoy having fun with their friends.
Everything at River Island is designed in-house. We have an 80 strong design team who interpret the latest trends and create and design products with the River Island twist that stamps the personality on our brand. Our house style is unique to us, and a key feature of our approach is the attention to detail we take in the quality of the final product that goes into store.
STORE CONCEPT
The success of the River Island store format is one of constant evolution. We give our stores a modern feel mixing natural and modern materials such as exposed brick, natural stone with glass and steel. We place a very strong emphasis on Visual Merchandising with dedicated staff who create the key looks of the season in store to allow our customers to create their own looks, and with new stock arriving in store every week there is always something new and exciting to showcase.
AWARD-WINNING BRAND
River Island has grown into one of the most successful stories of British fashion retail and the company’s achievements are continually recognized through the winning of high profile consumer and industry awards.
2006 Company Magazine High Street Awards Best Store on the High Street
Best Spend under 50
Best Bags on the High
eSuperbrands Award
2005 Retail Week Awards Store Design of the Year
2004 Drapers Awards Multiple Retailer of the Year
2004 Retail Week Retail Interiors Award Fashion Retailer of the Year
OUR STORES
We currently have 210 stores in the UK & Ireland and 25 stores across the world, and our plan going forward is to continue our store expansion internationally.
Store locations
UK
Eire
Netherlands
Kuwait
UAE
Bahrain
Saudi Arabia
Lebanon
Turkey
Poland
Qatar
…. and now Singapore at VivoCity (opening 31 January 2007) and at Raffles City (May 2007) and soon in Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (3 stores opening in September 2007)
QUOTE
‘We are looking forward to the prospect of working with the best operator in Singapore, Robinsons. This is our first store in Asia and it is a very exciting step in the development of River Island into a global brand
Richard Bradbury
River Island Managing Director
