Q&A: Never Fully Dressed founder Lucy Aylen on standing out from the crowd from London to LA

With its vibrant colours, fun prints and inclusive multi-wear styles, Never Fully Dressed (NFD) certainly stands out from the crow, priding itself on its promotion of individuality. Having first come onto the scene in 2009, NFD has been on a steady trajectory ever since.

The face behind the brand is Lucy Aylen, who has recently emerged from behind the scenes to front social media content for the brand. She was quite literally raised on the shop floor: her parents were market traders and her grandparents worked in the West End rag trade – the ultimate inspiration for Never Fully Dressed.

Aylen sat down with Retail Week to discuss the brand’s journey, the importance of individuality and inclusivity, and business challenges the brand is facing in an ever-competitive, overcrowded fashion market.

How has Never Fully Dressed evolved since its launch?

“I never set out with a business plan; I never wanted to make a brand or a business and I didn’t identify as an entrepreneur until probably a few years ago. 

“My parents used to do the markets, so I’ve always been creative. I did Portobello and Spitalfields markets, which were much more creative, and you got a priority with your pitch if you made [your own] things completely. So I made the switch to just sell and make my own stuff so that I could get a better pitch in the market.

“But I did have a website – I was lucky that my cousin was a tech guy who built a really small, weird website that worked pre-social media, and I used to cold message people on Facebook; that was my form of marketing. Fast-forward a few years and social media came about. It’s been great because you have a platform that you don’t need to pay for and can be a shop window.

“We then opened a store in Buckhurst Hill in Essex because we’d been working in my mum’s loft until then. We also went on Shopify but were unable to fulfil the amount of orders due to our growth. So we expanded on the fulfilment side as we just couldn’t keep up. Our fulfilment centre is in Harlow, Essex, so it’s really local, and that held us in good stead during covid.

“It’s been a journey and there has been a lot of changes. Even when I look at other brands that I admire or aspire to, like Ganni or Farm Rio, they’ve been going for 25-30 years and it does take that long to establish and learn –and we’re still learning.”

What sets NFD apart from the competition?

“Inclusivity is the brand. I think our honest voice and the foundation of the business has been ingrained from the start and from market culture, it’s just how we’ve evolved. We are size inclusive but it’s just part of our culture, it’s been there all the time. Now it’s coming through in our products and what is more obviously appreciated by our customers.

“We were also early with pre-loved; we were one of the first people to do it, probably around 10 years ago, we were one of the first to launch on Depop. It started because I was wearing something on social and people were telling me that they’d missed out on that collection and asking if I wanted to sell it.

“I’ve always shopped secondhand; luckily for the world, it has now become cool. You can sell your old NFD pieces back to us and we have a lot of celebrities who use that arm of the business because they need a lot of clothes for different events. You can either get money back or more points to spend online.

“It’s a great initiative that people love because it takes away the guilt of buying new products. We also have sample sales and try to have no wastage in our processes.”

You’ve just opened your doors in LA, what else is on the horizon?

“I used to live in LA for a little while, so I’ve always gone there and it felt quite natural for it to be our next state. After that we’re looking at Miami and looking to make London work and then we’ll settle for a while.

“We’re also launching jewellery for the first time properly this summer. It’s always been quite small part of our range, because we want to offer that head-to-toe accessory piece.

“In the US, we’re also launching rental [services] with Nuuly, which is owned by Urban Outfitters. We don’t have any rental partners here [in the UK], even though we’ve been approached quite a lot. It just hasn’t yet fit with our business model.”

It’s currently a tough market for fashion retailers, what are your biggest challenges?

“I know that a lot of people are struggling at the moment but we are okay. One big challenge in our industry is the copying of designs – it means that everything becomes a bit samey. As soon as that happens and products launch in the likes of Zara, there is no identity.

“When people copy us or use our imagery, it’s a bit hopeless. Because we do have that integrity of design and that backstory, which some people might not even know about us, it can be frustrating. It’s flattering and it means that something is trending, but it can be a challenge.

“I also think marketing can be difficult: that dependence on a social algorithm makes it hard for independents to grow. Equally, these social platforms are amazing; they’re the birth of the bedroom business and they can do so well.

“Our social media is quite a balance of the brand and the person. We’re trying to make more targeted content because our product suits a range of ages. I just don’t think anyone has that honesty of voice with our integrity of design and our inclusivity. It’s exciting to see that grow and I just want to spread that voice and grow our community.”