British luggage brand Antler has been on quite the journey and with a rebrand under its belt and remaining on track to reach £100m in sales by the end of 2029, Retail Week speaks to managing director Kirsty Glenne about the journey to date, redefining heritage and the challenges ahead
Having reported a 13% surge in global sales year on year to £45m for the year to the end of February and topped Retail Week’s chart of the fastest growing UK retailers last year, outpacing hit brands Lululemon, Uniqlo and New Balance among others, it would be fair to say Antler is a British heritage travel brand that’s flying.
And as it remains on track to reach £100m in sales by the end of the 2029 financial year and eyes new categories and markets, it is showing no signs of slowing down.
Retail Week sat down with Antler managing director Kirsty Glenne in the brand’s 111th year, and three years to the day that she took the helm to discuss its rebrand, the importance of redefining heritage, the fusion between travel and fashion and challenges posed by President Trump’s tariffs in its priority market of opportunity—the US.
Tell us about Antler’s rebrand
“When I inherited the brand as an opportunity, it was exactly 100 years old. It was about trying to stay relevant as a brand that is that old and has a coloured past. It had been bought out of administration and the owners prior had a completely different strategy.
“Luckily with administration you get rid of all the physical assets, so what we had left was a digital brand that was only direct-to-consumer and UK based, and ff course, outside of the pandemic so it was ultimately a blank canvas. It was all about unpicking the pieces that we felt would be worth keeping in terms of brand, and reinventing them with our main word being reimagination.
“We picked some colours such as coral from the archive but we leaned into a new colour which is now green, because we didn’t want to go round the world saying that we are British, but we thought British could be interpreted by colour while also leaning into our heritage. Equally, through our product, the colour palette being very muted is deliberately inspired by British landscapes. Every single thing that we do has a reason and can be tied back to the rebrand.”
How important is Antler’s heritage for the brand moving forward?
“Heritage is a difficult word because it can be overly misinterpreted. It can often mean a bit of history and imply that you’re old and dusty, and it can be hard to launch a British heritage brand in other markets. Our reinterpretation of heritage is talking about legacy, so we have 100 years of exprience that we carry forward into our product which translates to trust. Certainly with luggage you want quality, durability and the trust in the badge of Antler.
“In this macroeconomic environment which is tough, it’s expensive and customers are really looking for the quality and value ratio, so when you’ve got this brand that adds a weight of legitimacy and authority, it sort of gives you a competitive advantage.”
“We’re not cheap—we are good value but we’re not luxury”
What makes Antler unique and how is it resonating in today’s market?
“We are very democratic in our positioning, you get great quality at a good price. I say good because it’s still a considered purchase for many. We’re not cheap—we are good value but we’re not luxury. I think Antler stands out for that and there’s a reason to exist a little bit more than just buying stuff.
“Travel is a very interesting category to be in and it’s ultimately a psychology. I think what’s happened now is the category has shifted into this lifestyle space, and travel is becoming a top choice in people’s disposable income. People are not sacrificing experiences and destinations and if I’m accurate in that hypothesis, people still care about what they look like. Travel has tipped over from being functional to an extension of each individual’s personal style. It’s actually this convergence of fashion and travel which is really fascinating.”
How important is your wholesale arm and having a physical presence?
“We’ve expanded into our parent company in Australia who has a wide footprint of 260 stores, and our biggest wholesale partner is our parent company [ATR Holdings] but we also have David Jones and Myer. In the UK, our number one wholesale partner is John Lewis, and we also have Selfridges. More recently we launched Fenwick and we have Next, but in a marketplace model and we don’t really do much more than that.
In the US, we have mainly digital formats including Saks, Bloomingdales and Neiman Marcus.
“We have representation in multichannel across the world in these regions but we are still a direct-to-consumer first business. We’re very proud of our multichannel approach, we use our wholesale partners to fill the gap on physical retail so customers can still touch and feel the products. We are very entrepreneurial and if it makes sense at the right time, we will go for it and move very fast but it’s about quality over quantity.
“We’re never going to be in the position that we were in before the administration when there was just mass product on shelves, and the brand was probably most famous for being in TKMaxx—which there’s nothing wrong with, but that’s just not who we are anymore.”
What are the biggest challenges for Antler currently?
“Our strategic priority is still actually US, despite all the challenges and tariffs and complexities, we have put money there and we still believe in that region as an untapped opportunity.
“It is sort of a blessing in disguise, with it [the US] being a small piece of ourselves at the moment because it is business development for us, and luckily, we were ahead of the game. We’ve already in-housed a satellite warehouse inside the US and one just outside as well, so we have everything set up.
“Nobody expected the tariffs to go to 190% but we were ahead of it, so it’s just about being patient, riding it through and being sensible. At the moment it’s business as usual for us.
“Other than that it’s just consumer sentiment, and I think it’s positive for us here right now but there’s just a lot going on everywhere in the world.
“And if you operate globally, there’s a lot you have to stay tuned in for to be able to pivot quickly, and you never know how the consumer and all these different markets respond. But there’s always challenges so we’re not necessarily scared of things—we just think very rationally and logically and move quickly.”
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