John Lewis would not normally be a first port of call for those looking for trendy or distinctive designer pieces. But the department store is one of several major UK retailers to have upped their fashion game lately by collaborating with emerging homegrown labels that could do with more exposure to the great British public.
This autumn alone, John Lewis partnered with Rejina Pyo and British-West African menswear label Labrum; M&S teamed up with the British Fashion Council’s 2024’s New Establishment Womenswear winner 16Arlington as well as Bella Freud for a second time; and Debenhams curated a limited-edition capsule with the “King of Sequins” Ashish Gupta. The 15-piece collection of mini dresses, maxi skirts and a wild technicolour faux fur coat, part of the retailer’s attempt to revive its 1993 “Designers at Debenhams” initiative, was accompanied by the tagline “luxury shouldn’t be out of reach”.
Fashion tie-ups between the high end and the high street may have been around for decades. But this latest influx of collaborations comes as London’s independent high-end designers face one of the toughest trading climates in recent memory. A low-growth economy, coupled with rising costs of living and stagnant wages, means “customers are scrutinising value for money very carefully”, according to KPMG. Research from the British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) has also found “a collapse in business confidence, with nearly half of independent retailers expressing pessimism about 2026”.
In other words, amid a string of high-profile bankruptcies and brand closures on the British fashion scene, hyped small labels need all the help they can get. (Pyo and 16Arlington have both recently skipped showing at London Fashion Week in recent seasons because shows are so costly.) But there’s something in it for the big retailers too.
“For emerging designers, these partnerships offer a chance to expand their reach and build sustainable businesses,” says British Fashion Council CEO Laura Weir. “For retailers, they inject fresh energy, creativity and cultural relevance into the high street.” It’s a move that Anita Balchandani, who leads McKinsey’s apparel, fashion and luxury practice for Emea, has dubbed the “high-street elevation game”.
Bella Freud’s ongoing partnership with M&S has proven particularly fruitful: a spokesperson said that 75 per cent of the 2024 collection sold out within the first eight hours. This year’s collection includes homewares, a growing category for the brand, in addition to a velvet tailored jacket (£160, marksandspencer.com) and matching trousers (£120, marksandspencer.com), which typically retail for upwards of £800. Likewise, 16Arlington’s 43-piece strong collection of sequinned and feathered eveningwear has been a quick success, with 30 per cent sell-through on its first day.
Amid the bounty of party wear, John Lewis’s back-to-back collaborations with Rejina Pyo and Labrum delivered hard-working and wearable essentials with elevated edge.
“I find some collaborations can feel gimmicky and date quickly,” says 29-year-old writer and brand strategist Camilla Iskjaer, who was swayed by a pair of Pyo’s relaxed straight cut high-rise Jeans (£103, johnlewis.com) and the green high neck contrast stitch knit jumper (£169, johnlewis.com). “With any high-street collaboration, you have to expect a drop in quality from the designer’s own line, but this one was towards the expensive end [capped at £400] and it paid off in the quality of the pieces,” she adds.
For Ali Bradshaw, luxury brand consultant and founder of Dolop, “There is something thrilling about seeing a designer distil their vision and play around with an iconic product like the Gap hoodie [Sandy Liang] or the Adidas Samba [Grace Wales Bonner] whilst confined by a high-street retail price.”
According to John Lewis’s director of fashion Rachel Morgans, the company’s intention with these partnerships is to “excite and surprise customers by bringing further awareness to fantastic emerging British-based talent”.
Take Labrum’s collection for John Lewis, spanning duffel coats (£279, johnlewis.com), sleek cable-knit jumpers (£169, johnlewis.com) and tailoring (from £259, johnlewis.com). This latest tie-up also reflects John Lewis’s ambitions around investing in its menswear strategy. The retailer has recognised this market, which is expected to reach $936.94bn globally by 2033 according to a recent forecast report, as a big opportunity, with ongoing capsule collections with Barbour and an exclusive tailoring capsule with Paul Smith. In recent quarters, the retailer says that John Lewis branded menswear lines have seen double-digit growth.
For Labrum’s founder Foday Dumbuya, working with John Lewis was a “beautiful exercise in widening the circle”. A collaboration of this kind was not initially on his radar. “But it means people who may never have encountered Labrum or our narrative suddenly see themselves reflected in a big, established British institution,” he says. “That visibility matters.”
Can these “collabs” really help boost the dowdy reputation of the retail heavyweights? The latest YouGov data is encouraging: M&S is currently ranked first among high-street retailers for style (also likely aided by the wider revamp of its fashion offerings). Likewise, John Lewis, which will welcome both Rejina Pyo and Labrum for a second season in SS26, recently announced it had achieved its highest level of customer satisfaction to date (also partly attributed to the wider £800mn investment plan designed to elevate the brand online, and across its 36 UK retail spaces).
That said, Iskjaer, who oversees strategy for a variety of brands across the lifestyle, retail and tech spaces, still believes these partnerships can be high risk. “Great partnerships will generate more awareness and help brands build reputation in the long term,” she says. “But a mismatched partnership that prioritises stretching reach in the short term may well do more harm than good, especially for those designers who aren’t yet a household name.”
Beyond just good design ideas, Bradshaw emphasises the role of marketing in making partnerships creatively and commercially successful, particularly when it comes to targeting a younger, digitally minded audience. M&S has previously stated its intent to “reach a new generation”, upping its marketing spend across platforms such as Instagram and TikTok by 80 per cent.
“Collaborations also push both sides creatively,” reflects Dumbuya. “They force you to think differently, to merge worlds. And when done right, they show that diversity of thought, craft and culture isn’t just a trend, it’s the future of how we shape fashion and storytelling.”
Follow us on Instagram and sign up for Fashion Matters, your weekly newsletter about the fashion industry