If you’ve ever owned one of our garments, you’ll surely have seen a small tab stitched into a side seam with some coordinates on it. 51.5222N 00.1185W to be precise. Put your orienteering cap on and that's where you’ll find our design HQ on Lambs Conduit Street in Bloomsbury, but as you’ll discover, this jumble of numbers and letters does much more than simply put us on the map.
“I first visited Lambs Conduit Street in 2007 when a good mate of mine Cathal, who started Folk, asked me to come down to check some empty store units he had recently opened," explains Oli. "Being the nice guy that I am, I obliged, and I’m glad I did. I knew straight away that this street felt like home. I decided to take on No. 62 almost immediately and that’s where our HQ has been ever since.”
A sense of place is important for a brand. The environment in which clothing is conceived informs not only the design but also the brand ethos. It's why many of the biggest fashion houses are quick to point out that they were born in, say, Paris, because of the chic, stylish, and historical connotations the French capital affords them. At Oliver Spencer, we think much more locally, which is why Bloomsbury, and specifically Lambs Conduit Street has always been entwined in our creative identity. “The architecture around Lambs Conduit Street is mostly Georgian - those big, tall lovely townhouses that ooze with history. These days, they’re used for retail and residential so you get a real cross-pollination of people that live here and people that work here, which is quite unique. It feels like a village in many ways.”
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We've made many a great friend on Lambs Conduit Street, both from brands that have joined us here, but also from the residents we see everyday. In fact, one of Oli's recent collections was inspired by a chance meeting of a resident who was wearing Oliver Spencer garments in a way that struck Oli as really unique. The reason behind the coordinates is really to honour the street and the experiences we've had here, because everything about it has had a guiding hand over the brand.
“When we opened the store, we went through a rebranding and wanted something to stamp our product with that gave it authenticity. When I design products it’s always with function in mind, which is why I love classic military garments. I also like adventuring, so we decided that the coordinates of our design location would be an amazing way to combine all of those elements and bring the customer back to where their garment started life.”
The coordinates give our customers a sense of where our products are not only designed, but where we draw our inspiration from everyday, whether it’s someone Oli walks past in the morning when he's getting his coffee, or whether it’s poring through fabrics in our design studio. It all begins at 51.5222N 00.1185W.
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