If I told you there was a brand that sells clothes made from the same luxe fabrics — often in the same factories — as the most expensive designer labels, but that charged 80 per cent less, you’d have clicked away to its site before even reaching the end of this sentence, ne-c’est pas? Then again, Times readers tend to be healthily sceptical of such outlandish claims.
“We ran into this problem at the beginning,” says Jed Coleman, co-founder of precisely such a brand, Rise & Fall. “Our prices were so much lower, people didn’t believe it could come close to the brands we were comparing to. We actually had to put them up.”
You’ve heard of stealth wealth and quiet luxury, but Rise & Fall likes to shout about such things — and they have already found a willing audience among the front-row crowd, who like their clothes expensive-looking (and feeling) but relatively anonymous. On its site you’ll find direct comparisons to designer brands offering similar products, along with how much money you’ll save for not buying theirs.
Jed Coleman and William Coulton, the co-founders of Rise & Fall
For example, Rise & Fall’s £125 belted midi shirtdress (riseandfall.co) in an eco-linen blend and with a row of mother-of-pearl buttons will save you 54 per cent on Ralph Lauren’s £269 version and 81 per cent on Veronica Beard’s at £648.
A similar dress in machine-washable 100 per cent silk costs £195 at Rise & Fall, compared with £1,550 from Balenciaga. Both items are produced by the same manufacturers as Zimmerman and Reformation, where dresses cost about £900 and £300. A bestselling blanket-like cashmere wrap costs £185 compared with £395 at Pringle and Joseph, and feels far more like theirs than anything on the high street.
“We’ve had a few angry letters from high-priced lawyers,” Coleman admits, “but we’re confident, so we push back. Are they going to risk a court deciding yes, these products are comparable but one costs £100 and the other costs £500? That would be a marketing dream for us.”
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“Originally we thought customers would see us as luxury and trade up from the high street,” says his co-founder Will Coulton, “but more and more we’re seeing that it’s someone trading down, who has bought luxury but is disillusioned with it.”
According to HSBC, the average price of personal luxury goods has risen 52 per cent in Europe since 2019. In 2020 a Chanel quilted flapover bag cost $5,800; by 2023 it was $10,200. Last season at Louis Vuitton, its menswear designer Pharrell Williams unveiled a new crocodile skin Speedy bag priced at $1 million. Influencers are chattering about £3,000 blazers and £1,000 micro-miniskirts from brands that used to be within reach of saving up for.
“Prices just keep going up,” Coleman agrees. “Even people who earn good money can’t afford what they’re selling. The luxury industry has hijacked aspiration.”
Trousers £155, vest £65, cashmere wrap £185, all Rise & Fall
The price differences come from Rise & Fall’s business model: small orders that increase only where there is demand. That means there’s no need to mark up prices to the same extent as brands ordering giant bulks once a season.
With that model, mark-ups must cover the inevitable discounts applied by shops. When a small batch of Rise & Fall’s popular items sells out, the team sells them on preorder, to be delivered when ready — two weeks max.
This was what happened with last winter’s must-have, an £85 cashmere knitted hood that began as an of-the-moment trend piece then became a word-of-mouth sleeper hit. Comparative versions sell for up to £329 elsewhere, despite not being pure cashmere like Rise & Fall’s. I can vouch not only for its softness but also its resistance to bobbling.
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“It never fails to surprise me that other brands are using plastic and polyester, then charging three times as much as us,” says the creative director Natalie Hasseck, another fashion industry disruptor who previously pioneered a clothes rental model.
As a co-founder of the Caravan chain of restaurants and coffee roasters in London, Coleman has start-up form too. He and Coulton, a former management consultant, originally joined forces with the aim of creating luxury bedding engineered for better sleep.
Their Crisp & Cool Organic set — double duvet cover, two pillowcases and an extra-grippy fitted sheet in 400-thread count, made at the same factory as Frette and the Four Seasons and costing £120 — remains one of their bestsellers. They have also launched menswear.
So when will Rise & Fall do the perfectly priced It bag, now that decent-sized designer versions start at £2,000 and run to £5,000? It’s already in development, they say: they’re working with the same leather as Anya Hindmarch.
“We think we can do a large tote bag for around £250,” Hasseck says. “That’s totally within our reach.” That means it might be within yours soon too.
@harrywalker1
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