Interview: How Farfetch and Browns’ boss is moulding the store of the future

“Jose called me. I had never met him before, but he said I’ve got something interesting,” she recalls. That something interesting was Neves’ ambition to buy famous fashion store Browns and to turn it into a “store of the future” that would change how retail is perceived and experienced.

But Rogers found out very quickly that “a lot of people were really unsure” about the wisdom of changing 50-year-old Browns, founded in 1970 by fashion entrepreneurs Joan and Sydney Burstein. The South Molton Street store became a West End retail destination and institution.

“I could question things people wouldn’t normally question”

Holli Rogers, Farfetch and Browns

Browns is famous for discovering designers such as Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane and introduced Armani, Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren to London.

In charge of such a trailblazing store, known for showing the best up-and-coming designers alongside more established ones, it was “very important” to Rogers that she ”continued to respect the heritage but do it in a forward-facing way”. That was the challenge.

Challenges

”It sounds simple when you step in and try to be conscious of its history – and I didn’t want to walk away from that or obliterate anything – but you do need to evolve it. So, dealing with that pressure was really challenging,” Rogers explains. 

However, the challenge of combining technology and old-fashioned retail was something she had experience of.

Before joining Browns, Rogers was fashion director at luxury online platform Net-a-Porter for 12 years, playing in a key role in pioneering the sale of luxury apparel online – something some industry observers thought was impossible.

“I started [at Net-a-Porter] in year two. It had an amazing trajectory and it was incredible to grow a business that didn’t previously exist in the world,” Rogers says.

“And while it wasn’t my idea, helping to execute is a critical part that a lot of other people play in someone’s vision. For me that pioneering spirit and doing something that hasn’t been done before is an intrinsic part of who I am now.”

But then Neves offered Rogers the job that would surpass the “amazing retail journey” she had been on. 

Coming from an online-only background meant Rogers had to learn about bricks-and-mortar retail on the job, which excited her.

“I didn’t have preconceived notions about what you should and shouldn’t do [in property] and I could question things people wouldn’t normally question,” she explains.

Her approach was epitomised with the opening of Rogers’ first store – and Browns’ second – when Browns opened in Shoreditch, two years ago.

After spending time learning about property, meeting landlords and scoping out London boroughs, Rogers opted for the east London location, famous by then for digital start-ups and hipsters.

“I got a lot of pushback because the Shoreditch store was so different to the South Molton Street store,” she says. “I was like ‘what’s wrong with that?’.”

Browns South Molton Street is set over three ever-changing floors with separate menswear and womenswear sections, a dedicated sneaker room and elaborate jewellery display.

However, Browns Shoreditch is targeting a completely different audience. The gender-neutral space has technology-enabled styling suites, an immersive room on the second floor, shoppable wall art and can be used as an event space – all elements designed to “blur the lines of physical and digital”.

Rogers says having two different stores, in different areas, with different customers while being able to sell the same clothes, amazed her.

She explains, however, that “you have to speak to customers so differently”.

“Because we have more technology in the Shoreditch store, there’s a lot of conversation around what we can offer them and how they interact.

“We don’t have much stock because it’s not a very big store, so we don’t have a huge number of products in there, but we have a lot more online and in the other store.”

Having such dissimilar stores gives customers a reason to visit both, Rogers says, and she makes her staff swap locations so they understand the differences too.

Her online background has not deterred Rogers from becoming a champion for stores.

“There’s so much value in them, and having that identity that you can’t have online. Online is easy and convenient, whereas in-store you can connect with people. That connection is very human.”

Texas-born Rogers is proud of her team and says their support has enabled her to take on additional responsibilities.

The future

Five months ago Rogers also took of the role of chief brand officer at Farfetch, heading its editorial, brand and creative teams.

“I knew the team I had at Browns was strong enough to roll without me on a day-to-day basis,” she says.

Although “still quite different”, Farfetch and Browns share many of the same values and vision. Continuing to grow both businesses is a priority for Rogers as well as “redefining” what the luxury market should look like.

And the hunt for the Shoreditch store gave Rogers the idea for another way to reach Farfetch customers and offer them luxury in a different way – Nomad pop-up stores.

The most recent and third incarnation of Nomad was in Berlin earlier this month. The three-day store mixed curated fashion offerings with live performances, panel discussions, a clothing exchange and even a tattooist.

“There was this question about what luxury has to look like – there’s this cookie-cutter idea of it’s got to be marble and brass, but why?”

And the relocated West End store opening next summer will be a testament to that.

To celebrate Browns’ 50th anniversary, the flagship on South Molton Street is moving around the corner to Brook Street.

The new branch will feature a restaurant, an immersive experience room and a dedicated VIC – very important customer – space.

“This will be our big ta-da,” Rogers says. “For me, it will be one of the things that everyone will want to be at, need to be at.”

As well as pushing boundaries with its new store concepts, Browns is trying to lead the fashion pack with ethical and sustainable edits and a rental collaboration with US company Amarium.

“I do think rental is going to be a much bigger component,” Rogers predicts. “That’s why we embarked on that and tried it. We had a little bit of pushback from the brands saying, ‘what are you doing?’ But when you start talking to [the brands] you realise they’ve been talking to these [rental] people too and exploring what the next journey in fashion is.”

By partnering with Amarium, Rogers is trying to tap into the customers she refers to as HENRYs – high earners, not rich yet.

“They make a good amount of money but not enough to buy luxury, but they go to all the events and aspire to live that lifestyle so they’re perfect for this.”

Having challenged retail norms throughout her career, Rogers clearly sees plenty more opportunity to question the status quo.