House of Sunny targets China, adds premium Elevated line

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 22, 2017

UK fashion brand House of Sunny has launched a new, higher-end label, called Elevated by House of Sunny, unveiling the debut collection at the British Fashion Council’s Design Showrooms exhibition over the past five days.

The new offer takes the company to a more premium level with prices now going up to £450, compared to the regular House of Sunny ‘volume’ line’s prices of around £30 to £150.

Sales and marketing director Camilla Ley told Fashion Network the company, which was at the Designer Showrooms for the first time, was pleased with the response and is now reaching out in order to close deals: “We got  a lot of press and buyers, it was good to interact with lots of people we wouldn’t have met otherwise,” she said.

Label founder Sunny Williams said the new offer comes as the company launches its 10th volume collection and allows it be more adventurous with its materials, including nappa leathers, shearlings, and mohair wools for the first time.

Ley aded: “It still holds all the same values as our main line but it’s just elevated. It’s for our customer who has a higher budget and does want real leather rather than faux and wants mohair wool rather than polyester.”

Key pieces include hoodies in elevated jerseys, bi-colour denims with lacing detail, loose mohair tops with statement sleeves and the season’s popular velvet-finish puffer coat.

The five-year-old company was also showing its main line at the event with both lines focusing on full silhouettes, a key trend at London Fashion Week.

Williams told Fashion Network that the core collection targets a customer looking for everyday pieces with an edge. “It is for girls who like to mix up their clothing,” he explained.

“I'm seeing more and more friends wearing pyjamas to the shop with a boyfriend hoodie or jacket, especially East London girls looking like they’re putting it together in a very eclectic way. It’s almost outerwear and pyjama-wear blended. We definitely don’t take a whimsical, theatrical inspiration as a starting point and then water it down. We’re more about evaluating what people’s needs are and trying to provide for them.”

The company is hoping to achieve wider distribution in Western markets following the Designer Showrooms event but is also targeting growth in China having struck up a showroom deal there and being extremely active via Weibo.

Already available through several stockists in Taiwan, despite it being the brand’s first season in Greater China, Williams said it has developed a number of pieces “that are more petite and more fitted, with a certain USP that goes well with the Chinese market.”

He added: “It’s exciting to be an independent British brand that sources manufactures and designs everything in the UK and EU and is reaching out and finding new people. the China showroom will hopefully help us do that.”

As well as being available online internationally through its own site and e-tail giants like Asos and Zalando, the brand has a concession in Topshop, stockists in mainland Europe and is growing in the US, particularly in California and New York.

“California is going well for us,” Williams said. “There’s this whole Instagram-savvy generation that is happy to throw together pair of 1970s denims with a House of Sunny tee and a hoodie.”