Reserved: Who is the fast-growing Polish brand eyeing a UK store splurge?

Reserved opened its first UK store in 2017, in the former BHS flagship on Oxford Street, and its latest opening will take its London estate up to five, following a second store on Oxford Street and stores in Westfield Stratford City and Brent Cross shopping centres last year. 

Outside the UK, Reserved set out last year to bolster its store portfolio by a further 400 and it currently sells more than 210 million pieces of clothing annually.

With a respectable 2.1 million Instagram followers and 1.3 million likes on TikTok, Reserved is proving a hit with social-savvy shoppers.

The brand has also teamed up with some serious style icons including the likes of Kate Moss, Kendall Jenner and Cara Delevingne. 

Reserved owner LPP vice-president and chief financial officer Przemysław Lutkiewicz told Retail Week that the brand views Inditex and H&M as its main competitors due to their similar trend-led offer and affordable price point. 

So who is Reserved? Can it truly compete with the other desirable fast-fashion giants in this increasingly competitive market? And is it poised to kickstart a store shopping spree in the UK? 

Who is Reserved? 

Founded in 1998 by Marek Piechocki and Jerzy Lubianiec, Reserved is clothing conglomerate LPP’s “flagship” and “most fashionable” brand, sitting alongside sister brands Cropp, House, Mohito and Sinsay. 

Making its debut on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in 2001 and headquartered in Gdańsk, Pomerania, Reserved offers a range of womenswear, menswear, childrenswear, shoes and accessories.

Despite being a fast-fashion brand, Reserved says it is “more and more focused on the production process” and is on a mission to carry out processes that require less water and energy moving forward. As much as 38% of its entire range meets this criteria currently but, according to its website, this will increase to more than 50% by 2025. 

Following an omnichannel-first strategy, Lutkiewicz says both ecommerce and bricks and mortar have played their part in the brand’s success to date.

“During Covid, people moved to ecommerce and were buying online a lot, whereas now we can see the opposite trend,” he says.

“People are moving away from ecommerce and into the bricks-and-mortar stores, which is why we are putting our bet on our omnichannel strategy and having both selling channels in our portfolio. 

“Consumers like to see the stores on the street so that they can do returns or pick up parcels in store. What is convenient for the consumer is what we want to support, so having the mobile app, website and being open with physical stores.” 

While its expansion strategy remains at the forefront of news surrounding Reserved, for the full year to January 31, 2023, its UK arm recorded a 55.9% surge in sales to £10.65m. 

Gross profit during the full year was also up from £4.15m in 2022 to £6.32m. Reserved also posted a loss before tax of £2.49m for the period, which was significantly down from £18.04m in the previous year. 

Despite turbulence across the market and LPP’s wider focus on the Russian and Ukrainian businesses last year, the fashion retailer said in a Companies House filing that it had kept the UK business stable and pledged its ongoing “long-term commitment” to the UK market, which is now starting to really ramp up. 

Next steps

So what’s next for Reserved in the UK? Lutkiewicz tells Retail Week that, due to hurdles such as Brexit and the Covid pandemic, the retailer has been waiting in the wings “for some time” to ramp things up in the UK. 

“We are waiting to open the next [store] in spring this year,” he says. “We are also very curious about the other regions of the UK. Manchester, Liverpool and Leeds are the destinations we are looking at, at the moment, but also we are thinking about even smaller cities. 

“From our own research, it looks like it would be better for us to look for new locations in the smaller cities. We would rather see the new locations coming into cities with 100,000 to 300,000 citizens, where the competition is much lower and maybe sometimes there are Polish or Eastern European communities living there, in smaller shopping malls.”

Lutkiewicz adds that, in a challenging retail market, other brands are having to close stores, which creates opportunities for Reserved. 

“When some brands are closing down, consumers are looking for alternatives and we want to be one of those alternatives.  

“We know that we are proposing good fashion for affordable prices, so we don’t want to compete with the cheaper brands like Primark, but we want to compete with brands like Zara and H&M in terms of fashion and good pricing.” 

Lutkiewicz adds that there is room for the brand to expand outside the UK and into Western Europe as it continues to boost awareness across the globe. 

“We do it quite cautiously because we know that the retail market is changing dramatically and has done in past years,” he adds.

“Many retail companies in Western countries have struggled and had problems so we want to be careful, but in the long run we believe it is a good strategy for us to be in these countries as well.” 

As Reserved continues to raise its profile in the UK and beyond, it certainly looks hot on the heels of its competitors. This retailer is one to watch as its fashion footprint grows and it takes steps towards becoming a household name on these shores.