Weird Fish: How the British fashion and lifestyle brand is reeling in customers and powering growth

From its foundation in 1993 with a mission to produce “well priced, well made and distinctive clothes” to surging profits and sales in 2025 and an ongoing growth strategy which is targeting a store estate of 80 to 90 in the next few years, Weird Fish has been on quite the journey.

Since being bought by parent company Total Capital Partners in 2017, pivoting to an online business model thanks to the pandemic and then snapping up a raft of former Joules stores post-Covid, it would be fair to say the business has been through some significant changes of late.

But it was at the very end of 2023 that chief executive David Butler took to the helm after spotting a great growth opportunity for the brand. He was named chief executive in December of that year and laid out his growth plan, which is now underway and bearing fruit.

On track for 10 new store openings this year and seeing no reason as to why the brand can’t have an 80 to 90-strong store estate over the next three to four years, Butler and chief product officer Laura Dugdale tell Retail Week about Weird Fish’s customer base, the evolution of its offer, and the secrets behind its growth strategy progress to date.

Reeling the customer in

In its most recent update for the first quarter of the year, Weird Fish said sales were up 16% to £9.7m, while EBITDA soared 51% and margins also increased thanks to a shift towards a full-price value proposition and reduced discounting.

Part of the transformation of Weird Fish was shifting from being a brand with a legacy of heavy discounting to sticking more strictly to full price.

Dugdale says: “We’ve been eroding that discounting and improving that pricing architecture and it shows us that there is an ernomous amount of increasing brand value and our customers are seeing the same product or similar product and paying a higher value for them.”

Another part of winning over the consumer in recent times has been about remaining competitive and differentiating the brand from the crowd. Dugdale says the intention of Weird Fish is to be an attainable, great value brand, that competes in its own lane.

While retailers such as Fat Face, Crew Clothing and Seasalt are some obvious competitiors, Dugdale says that Weird Fish shares its customer with market leaders Marks & Spencer and Next, and that the competitive map includes specialist outdoor brands as well as contemporary fashion brands as it continues to expand.

Butler adds: “The central element of what we’re trying to do is deliver products that would not have ordinarily been the sort of product the brand sold previously.

“We have around 450,000 active customers annually and we knew that those customers were only buying a small proportion of their available spend with us and going elsewhere for other things.

“Part of the journey was to completely refresh that whole product ethos, the diversity of the products we sell, different categories, types of products, prints, and just elevate the whole offer.”

While Weird Fish has the tagline ‘Wear the weekend’ and the fleeces it is well-known for remain bestsellers, the brand’s heritage collection and seasonal pieces are becoming increasingly popular. Dugdale says this category diversification has proved a hit in terms of stretching the opportunity to encourage customers to wear Weird Fish products more frequently.

With 45% of its customer base now under the age of 45, Weird Fish is apparently succeeding in its bid to broaden its appeal.

Storming store estate

Optimism is also fuelled by the success of an expanding store estate.

“There’s still a real serious demand for shopping on high streets,” says Butler. “We have an expansion plan of around 10 stores a year, because what we’ve done so far has seen some really great results.”

Historically, customers could find Weird Fish in resorts and coastal locations but Butler also sees a raft of opportunities in market towns—locations in which the pair believe the brand resonates.

Butler says Weird Fish has recently signed the lease for its largest store to date, which is double the size of its current biggest branch.

The growing store estate is also complemented by an outlet portfolio and concessions business. Butler sees opportunity in UK outlet centres for further expansion there.

And it’s not just the UK that is taking up the attention of Weird Fish bosses. The retailer is making its online debut in the US imminently via Nordstorm and Macy’s.

“There’s something desirable about the products in other territories,” says Butler. “So if we can work on the international strategy now relatively discreetly and quietly, then while the UK is building, hopefully in parallel over time, we will get the international side of the business going as well.”

With an eye to challenges in the market from the uncertain economic environment, to the competitive landscape and unpredictable weather among other factors, Butler and Dugdale are cool, calm and collected.

Butler flags finding the correct store space as a potential barrier to its success but adds: “I don’t think there is any one problem, it’s about us staying very close to things and reacting accordingly.”