Tala chief executive Morgan Fowles spoke to Retail Week about the significance of Tala’s debut store opening, its position in the market and staying competitive in a challenging athleisure and activewear market.
Activewear and athleisure brand Tala, which was first founded by Grace Beverley in 2019, has opened the doors to its highly anticipated first physical store, marking a pivotal moment for this digitally native, social media success story.
Having amassed strong growth organically on social media over the years, it was the belief in physical retail and importance of customer experience that drove Tala to officially open its first physical shopping space on London’s Carnaby Street.
Chief executive Morgan Fowles told Retail Week the space is a “wonderful reflection of the brand” and she’s evidently proud of the business journey to date. Having joined Tala as managing director in 2021 before stepping into the chief executive shoes in 2023, Fowles brought a decade of retail experience to the business and has been at the forefront of its expansion since.
From new product categories, to expansion in new territories such as the US, Europe and the Middle East, as well as an immimnent website overhaul on the cards, Tala is showing no signs of slowing down its momentum as it continues to mature into a bigger business.
Fowles spoke to Retail Week at the brand’s store on Carnaby Street and reflected on the brand’s position in the market, why now was the right time to open its store and how it continues to win over the customer in an increasingly competitive market.
Where does Tala sit in the market?
“I’m the first person to say that we did not invent the legging but the one thing that I love about opening this store is that you really get a sense for how different we are from our competitors.
“Without naming names, I think when a woman goes to shop for activewear products, she walks into a shop that feels things are hung high, bright colours that are synthetic and uninspiring huge piles.
“But you come into this space and you get a beautiful, chic, more boutique-like experience.
“Our products are styled back to the way that she would actually dress and we don’t necessarily look like your typical activewewar brand.
“I think it’s a better reflection of the way women actually dress when they want to be working out or coming and going to the gym, and I think that’s a real differentiator for us.
“On top of it however is that our products are genuinely designed to perform and they have all the technical features which are designed to be really thoughtful. We spend obsessive hours over fit, quality and performance. It really needs to work so our products are delivered in an aesthetic and stylish way.
“The last thing is from a price point perspective – we’re pretty distinctive. There are brands at the mass end of the market that can’t deliver on quality in the way that we can, and then you have brands that are well-known and share some customers with us but are 40% more expensive than we are so I think we have a very nice positioning in between those brands.”
Talk to me about Tala’s growing product offering
“The bestsellers really vary across the range but variations of our black leggings are certainly bestsellers. As customers come in they tend to move across a colour spectrum with us. They aren’t necessarily an entry price point either, they are pretty much average of where we sit. Leggings are surprisingly quite a technical product so they are competitively priced compared to other brands, especially for the quality.
“A few times a year we also have seasonal drops that are more exciting and fashion-focused such as our swim resort collection. Sometimes customers will come to us for the first time on those products because they are so visually compelling. During the weeks that we launch those products we can do very well but throughout the year our drum beat is on the lounge, hoodies, leggings and our 365 collection.”
“When you create an in-store environment, it is something that you can’t bring to life online”
Why was now the right time to open your first store?
“I don’t think we ever knew when the perfect moment was to do it.
“We always wanted to do it in a space where we could really get customers in that had the right size, a prominent location, that we could fixture and make look beautiful.
“We probably wouldn’t have been able to create that experience for her in-store had we done it too early but nor did we want to wait too long.
“The reality is that our customer still loves to shop in-store. There’s so much convenience to online, and that’s still our number one channel and probably will be for the foreseeable future but when you create an in-store environment, it is something that you can’t bring to life online and I think this space is such a wonderful reflection of our brand.
“For customers who are just getting to know us, or for people who’ve just heard about us once or twice, you get a great feel for who we are by being in our physical space.”
What are the biggest challenges ahead?
“The global economic uncertainty in general is the biggest challenge, it exists in the US, the UK and further ashore. With regard to the US, we’ve had to pull down a number of products from our US website which was a real shame but it’s still in flux and I am optimistic that something will be worked out. What’s important for us is that we stay nimble and we are fortunate that our business today isn’t overly dependent on America.
“Consumer confidence has also been tricky in the UK for a long time too. Our customer has probably faced the cost-of-living crisis more than some other demographics, so we are always mindful of how special it is when she chooses to give us share of wallet and trying to make sure that we are giving her something really special. We are trying to stay really competitive on our pricing and want to give the best value where we can.”
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