Joe Browns puts Yorkshire on the style map with free-spirited autumn/winter ‘20 collection

We are all rebels and adventurers, given half the chance. In spirit, anyway – and it is this spirit that is encapsulated and celebrated in Yorkshire fashion and lifestyle brand Joe Browns.

Founder Simon Brown and his team are great adventurers, travelling the world to find inspiration for Joe Browns’ signature, mood-enhancing, inclusive, ready-for-anything clothes and accessories designed to make their wearers feel individual, confident and liberated. Think bright colours, eye-catching prints, quirky design details and a retro-meets-boho vibe.

The pandemic curtailed these adventures, but Simon, who lives in Menston with his fellow adventurer and wife of 34 years, retired dentist Mandie (they have two grown-up children), has found that being grounded brings its own benefits.

“We’re exceptionally lucky in Yorkshire to have so many lovely nature spots right on our doorstep,” he says. “Lockdown has provided people with loads of opportunities to revisit some of their old favourite places, as well as discovering new ones. There’s always an opportunity to have an adventure, even in lockdown.”

It is more than 22 years since he came up with the concept for Joe Browns while on holiday in Wales, visiting beach bar the Ty Coch Inn at Porthdinllaen, Gwynedd. In a corner, he noticed a group of young people with salty hair and bangles. He wanted to bottle their carefree spirit.

Simon has always loved adventures. After he finished school at Sedbergh, he worked to buy himself a one-way ticket to New York, then worked his way across the world, building railways in Canada and boats in Hawaii. His odyssey ended in New Zealand and he finally headed home to his Bramley-based family clothing business, HE and FJ Brown, founded in 1911 by his great-grandfather.

He launched Joe Browns from a small office in Farsley in 1998 as a men’s fashion brand inspired by “beats, bikes and boards”. Womenswear followed and the company has grown to be a successful e-tailer, mail order and bricks-and-mortar retailer, reporting in March this year a turnover of £38.2m for the year ending June 30, 2019, up from £36.6m the previous year. In 2016, Simon was given a lifetime achievement award at the ECMOD Direct Commerce Awards. Previous winners include Johnnie Boden of Boden, Fran Cotton of Cotton Traders and Chrissie Rucker of the White Company.

Joe Browns HQ and warehousing operation is in Holbeck, Leeds, a standard out-of-town business unit on the outside but a cool and funky open-plan fashion house inside, filled with artworks of pop icons, strings of bunting, a drum kit, numerous guitars and a few of Simon’s treasured motorbikes.

Lockdown saw the temporary closure of the stores in Meadowhall, which opened in 2017, and at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet York, opened in July, last year. “Our stores are now open again and, although footfall is down in retail right across the country, we are working hard to deliver an in-store experience that delights and amazes our customers,” says Simon.

The teams have continued to work hard on the ranges, catalogues and the website. “We knew it was more important than ever this season to create some amazing assets for AW20,” he adds. “We’ve been trying hard on all our channels to brighten moods and bring a smile to faces, and this has been really well received.

“Some people who had perhaps shied away from online shopping previously have now discovered a whole new world at their fingertips. It seems lockdown has unlocked a wider online audience for us.”

Joe Browns fashion shoots often take place in exotic locations abroad but the latest one for the AW20 collections, featured here, was photographed on home soil. “We had to wait until the lockdown eased to be able to carry out our most recent lifestyle shoot,” says Simon. “This meant it was a little later than usual, but it was imperative that everyone was safe. We were restricted to where and how we could shoot, but managed to find a location just north of York where we could follow all the guidelines and still get some fantastic images.”

Simon is optimistic about the future of fashion retail. “People’s shopping habits may change a little,” he says. “Everyone has become comfortable shopping online and some may continue to do so. This will naturally impact retail, and shops will need to work that bit harder to draw attention and engage customers.”

A new warehouse should be completed in November and there are plans for pop-up shops to reach new areas and people. A new homeware range launches in October. “The collection is much larger than our previous ranges and it’s extremely exciting,” Simon says. “We’re still very much investing and growing as a business.”

The legacy of the pandemic, he says, will be an increased awareness of what we already have. “I’m not talking about material things,” he says. “I have always been grateful for my family and being able to get up every morning and do something I love, surrounded by fantastic colleagues, but it would be fair to say I haven’t ever given much thought to my health. I think people are perhaps guilty of taking certain things for granted, and they will become more appreciative now.

“There have been many challenges, but nothing that other people haven’t had to face. We’re not ones to dwell on the negatives.”

See the full collection at JoeBrowns.co.uk or visit the York and Sheffield stores. Stephanie Smith Instagram @yorkshirestyleQ

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James Mitchinson