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Last night, the fashion crowd headed East to London’s Shacklewell Lane to celebrate the re-opening of retailer LN-CC’s bricks-and-mortar store after four years. Soundtracked by buzzy electronic DJs Kettama, OK Williams and Lyzza, the party took place in the revamped store’s new club space L8TE, which will host brand activations and events, complete with changing, customisable light-up walls.
The store itself, designed by long-time LN-CC collaborator Gary Card, features several different coloured zones, including a bright red futuristic tunnel in the entrance (the store’s signature, moved from upstairs and repainted), the terracotta hued, curved footwear room midtarsal and the cavernous ‘callisto’ luxury section, with Gucci and Bottega pieces suspended in lilac recesses between rock-like walls.
LN-CC was co-founded in 2010 by John Skelton and Daniel Mitchell as a highly curated, appointment-only enclave, set up for personal shopping. The store saw strong growth in its early years, which ultimately led to overbuying and cash flow issues. The business fell into administration in 2014 and was swiftly purchased by The Level Group. Skelton and Mitchell exited post-sale and CEO of The Level Group Cristian Musardo took the helm and relaunched the store. However, it was forced to close its doors again in March 2020, as the first Covid lockdown was announced in the UK, and has sat empty ever since.
Since LN-CC last opened its doors, the multi-brand retail landscape has changed drastically in London, with the administration of Matches, the sale of Farfetch (which owns Browns), changing ownership at Selfridges and continued losses at Net-a-Porter.
Musardo and LN-CC buying and creative director Reece Crisp have high hopes for the new space, and believe that with a differentiated assortment that’s set apart from the indistinguishable, samey buys of other multi-brand platforms, they can drive growth. Here, they detail their vision.
Vogue Business: Congratulations on the re-opening of the store. What are you most proud of in the new space?
Cristian: We wanted to take a step forward but also keep the roots of our brand, which we strongly believe in. That’s why we partnered with Gary [Card] for a third time. Gary designed the original store in 2010 and worked on the re-opening in 2014. We did things like move the tunnel upstairs and change the colour. The tunnel has been at LN-CC forever, but this is a new version that’s visible from the street. So we definitely struck a balance between innovation on one side, change and renewal, while keeping the store coherent with the brand. That’s what excites me most.
Reece: For me, the whole intention of the space is to take you into the LN-CC universe. The way we edit brands and the way we sell them together, mixing Our Legacy from one room with a Stüssy T-shirt from the cobalt space, or taking Y Project denim and mixing that with a Rick Owens top. You can bring these pieces together and you can bring the different spaces together into one look. And I think that’s what’s key about LN-CC and how we do the overall edit.
The entry point is the tunnel and the cobalt. Then as you grow up you move into the atrium, and then you end up in the callisto when you’ve got your dream job and you can afford Bottega [Veneta] and Prada. That’s the idea.
Vogue Business: It’s been three years. How has the LN-CC customer evolved and how does this new store reflect the current customer and the market today?
Cristian: In the online business, our customers are located around the fashion cities. London, Paris, New York, LA, Tokyo and Seoul. If you look at our revenues, more than 70 per cent are from millennials and Gen Z. The store aligns with that consumer. LN-CC has always been on the fashion-forward side of the market. Of course the customer has evolved over time, but one thing that’s remained the same is they are risk-takers. We serve customers that are looking for new things and a directional range of products and brands.
Vogue Business: It’s a challenging time for multi-brand resale in the UK, as we’ve seen over the last year. How will LN-CC carve out a strong position in the market? What strategies do you have in place to ensure growth and stability in this new chapter?
Cristian: The slowdown is not a general term that applies everywhere to everybody, to all brands. The financial pressure is on the big platforms, they rely heavily on discount promotion, which is very visible online. Our assortment is very small compared to those big platforms. If you look at the performance of our brands, you will clearly see that the brands that don’t overlap much with those big platforms are the ones that are performing well.
The fact that we have a distinctive assortment that does not overlap is the way we want to protect our business. We are very proud of the timing for our launch, for this reason. Multi-brand isn’t dead. Customers look for and enjoy a space where they can truly discover products, new styles, and they can discover how they combine them. At the same time, brands need [retailers] that reach a new type of customer. Both need a place like LN-CC.
Vogue Business: When you say you have brands that don’t crossover much with other retailers that perform well, can you give some examples?
Cristian: If you take Miu Miu or The Row, what they have in common is that they have limited distribution, and a very distinctive point of view. We have an edit that is our own edit. The idea is that we don’t want to have the same assortment that others have.
Reece: One that immediately springs to mind is Rick Owens. The brand has been in the business from very early days. Thinking of LN-CC, I think of the likes of Rick Owens, Yohji Yamamoto, that darker side of fashion. Other brands that encapsulate us as a brand include Y Project, Kiko Kostadinov, Our Legacy, they all continue to do well for us. And yeah, Miu Miu’s having a real moment. And while they don’t necessarily want to message menswear, we get the ability to buy products and style them on menswear for the platform, too. LN-CC is also known for diversity in the way we style — styling across genders has been something we’ve done since the early days.
Vogue Business: Reece, how do you buy in order to avoid replicating other retailers?
Reece: We have to buy investment pieces and they’re a key focus, but directional items have to be how we differentiate. We are willing to take more risks. Going into showrooms, when brands talk about their distribution, about what stores they’re already stocked in, sometimes that actually deters us from buying. From the big brands, we actually ask them what everyone has bought and then try to steer away from it for a portion of the buy. I say to my buying team that you have to use your gut. When you’re going into showroom appointments, and you get a feeling or an emotion about products, that’s the same the customer gets when they come into our space.
Vogue Business: I know LN-CC’s store model used to be quite unique, with an appointment-based system. Why did you decide to open the store to the public this time?
Cristian: It’s been an interesting discussion. And to be honest with you, the feeling was that the space was intimidating. We are culturally open, so we want to be inclusive. We feel very proud of the outcome, the store provides a very experiential shopping experience that we didn’t want to keep closed or restricted. At this moment in time it’s very important to be open and speak to more people. At the same time, though, we know that there are some customers that want to enjoy a more private and more personal, intimate experience. And that’s why we kept a personal shopping service, which I think is a good complement, especially for those customers that want a more special experience.
Vogue Business: And of course there’s the L8TE space. It’s rare to have a club space in a store, why was this important for the new LN-CC?
Cristian: This feature is so important to me. It’s a multipurpose space that’s been designed to be able to change shape, to change skin, in order to evolve and adapt to different occasions. Tonight, it’s a party, but it’s gonna be available soon for marketing activations, product launches and events. The team is already working on a number of brand events and collaborations with brands that we are going to line up for the next month. It’s not only creative for the design, but also as a business. I think it’s a good addition to our portfolio. Plus, music has been part of LN-CC since day one, we’ve always collaborated with artists, DJs, talent. I think this is something that will stay central to the brand.
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