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Studio Nicholson, the UK-based fashion label founded in 2010 by designer Nick Wakeman, has a cult following for its no-nonsense clothing that doesn’t follow trends. In 2020, when many independent brands fought to extend their lifeline as the pandemic impacted operations and sales, Studio Nicholson reported its “best year yet”, with growth across wholesale and e-commerce and the opening of its first store in London. Now, the brand has a new distribution partner in Japan and is gearing up for the opening of its first international standalone flagship in Tokyo.
The 1,000-square-feet store, which opens on Friday, is based in Aoyama, a wealthy neighbourhood lined with sophisticated boutiques and cafes. In addition to clothing, accessories and footwear, exclusive made-in-Japan pieces — such as a tropical shirt and trousers set — will be available for purchase in the store. At launch, the upper floor will house an exhibition showcasing its Autumn/Winter 2023 campaign by photographer Senta Simond, as a way to introduce the brand to new consumers. More boutiques will follow across Asia, in China, South Korea and Taiwan.
The opening feels “like a homecoming” for Wakeman, who first visited Tokyo in 1999 and continues to make regular trips to the city — more than twice a year, she says. The initial trip changed her perspective and has informed her “creative placemaking” over the past 25 years. “I came from grimy London in the 1990s where everything was grey and analogue,” Wakeman recalls. “When I got to Tokyo, my eyes popped out of my head because everything was so orderly and clean. The colours really spoke to me, as did the buildings, the interiors, the food… it really had an impact.”
Inspired by the elegant style of Japanese consumers — take a walk down the streets of any city in Japan and you’ll see men and women dressed in neutrally toned, well-fitted clothing — Wakeman designs considered pieces for everyday living, with a particular focus on quality fabrics, colour and silhouette. The brand’s latest AW23 men’s collection, for example, features muted colours like teak, tapenade, oak and “black olive”, and merges contrasting forms, such as drawstring and pull-cords, with parachute and sporty cotton fabrics.
The approach has been appreciated by an international audience — mostly creatives such as architects and artists — who, like Wakeman, take a no-frills approach to getting dressed. Today, the brand has 40 employees and is profitable, with turnover in “the tens of millions”, according to Wakeman.
Success in a saturated market
Taking the vision that Studio Nicholson exported back to Japan will be no easy feat. There are plenty of international brands in the country, including Lemaire, Jil Sander, Fast Retailing’s Theory and H&M-owned Cos, which sell functional, stylish pieces. There are also numerous homegrown Japanese retailers such as Beams, United Arrows and Ships that cater to local consumers. Competition from neighbouring countries like South Korea is also growing, with LVIR, Le 17 Septembre, Shop Amomento and Low Classic among those specialising in pared-back luxury.
Fashion’s recent return to low-key or “quiet” luxury has also been spurred on by the popularity of TV shows like Succession, and growing interest in brands such as Khaite and Toteme, which have also been pushing more aggressively into Asia. “The world is now saturated with [this aesthetic],” Wakeman acknowledges. “I don’t think I’m responsible for this movement, but I was certainly one of the first to create this kind of modular wardrobe that stood the test of time, with quality at the forefront.”
Wakeman isn’t shaken by the surge in competition and has come to expect it with fashion’s inherently cyclical nature. “I don’t feel threatened just because everyone is doing it,” she asserts. Her decades of experience working with textiles and operating in the industry helps set Studio Nicholson apart, she believes. Wakeman launched her first brand Birdie in collaboration with Beams in Japan in 1999. She ran the brand for nine years, during which it was stocked by more than 200 stores worldwide, before she sold it to a Japanese company in 2007.
Wakeman took some time off to begin devising her vision for Studio Nicholson. She worked with an old acquaintance of 25 years who helped to distribute the label, getting it into 25 stores at launch. During the pandemic, as supply chains got trickier for all brands to manage, Wakeman signed a distribution partnership with Kowa, a Japanese specialised trading company and manufacturer, which also works with fashion brands like Vivienne Westwood. “They’re very retail focused, whereas my previous partner was more [experienced in] wholesale,” she explains.
The priority now is growing Studio Nicholson’s direct retail channels. The brand sells via its e-commerce site and bricks-and-mortar flagship in London, and counts 250 stockists worldwide, including Matchesfashion and Ssense. Wakeman declined to comment on the split between wholesale and direct-to-consumer, but says that the latter is “significant” and a primary focus in the short term. She’s looking for store locations in key markets like China, where the brand has seen 300 per cent year-on-year growth in the last 12 months.
Japan’s enduring appeal
About 25 per cent of Studio Nicholson’s revenues currently come from Japan. Of that, 70 per cent is from menswear. “Japan is not our biggest market, but it’s the most important to me,” says Wakeman. The country may be a mature market for luxury fashion, but it remains one that many brands and consumers look to for inspiration, she says. “From South Korea to China, everyone still looks at what Japan is doing and what’s happening in the market there.”
Kowa helped to secure Studio Nicholson’s new store in Aoyama. Wakeman declined to comment on rental prices, but observes that retail globally has become much more “competitive” as companies seek to upsize while taking advantage of reduced rents in some markets. “Everyone’s come back to retail with a bang. We lost out on [the first space we were interested in], which was next to Dries Van Noten [in the same neighbourhood], although in hindsight, we much prefer the one that we’ve got now,” she says.
Being located off the main road aligns more closely with the brand’s values as it’s more discreet, says Wakeman. It also fits a growing preference among luxury and fashion brands to open stores in Japan in less obvious locations that only loyal customers will seek out. Take Chrome Hearts or Auralee, for example; their tucked-away flagships can only be found with intention. Studio Nicholson’s neighbours include Lina Stores, the famed Italian delicatessen and pasta restaurant, and a popular Japanese bakery that has queues down the block.
Wakeman’s personal style is so closely intertwined with the brand that customers struggle to disassociate the two. That’s advantageous in new markets, and she can leverage that fandom to draw more visitors to the new store, she believes. “I have a reputation in Japan, because I had a brand there before and have built up a profile,” she says. “I can’t go into any store over there without someone recognising me.”
Experts are optimistic about Studio Nicholson’s arrival. “I think they’d do well in Japan because it matches local styles and has the cachet of being a foreign brand,” says W David Marx, Tokyo-based author of Ametora and Status and Culture. The focus is less on sales and more on storytelling as the brand returns to its roots, says Wakeman. “[The store in Japan] won’t have a huge impact on our bottom line. But, from the beginning, it’s where the business has been built.”
To get the word out, Studio Nicholson will appear in local style magazines as well as sites including YouTube, where it plans to work with around 15 creators on content. The emphasis is less on the platforms than on the narrative, says Wakeman. “It’s all about the product at the end of the day. Each material has a story; whether it’s sustainability or composition. We’re focused on how we convey that to the customer, because the Japanese are supremely concerned with fabrication.”
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