As visitors begin to return to high streets, we wanted to shine a light on the concept store in Eccleston Yards that is going one step further than being just another fashion store. 50m is a luxury concept store that exists to support and showcase emerging fashion designers and artists providing them with a platform to sell and present their collections, and a community to grow with.
The 50m designer and artist community create events and content that bring together both customers and designers, with their store space in Eccleston Yards holding a special events programme of talks, workshops and performances hosted by creative talents from all fields.
Providing a space for designers who wouldn’t necessarily be able to hold down a standalone store is one more and more important way that communal fashion spaces hope to foster new talent in an age when even big fashion houses are struggling to profit from bricks-and-mortar spaces.
Originally stocking the works of just 10 designers, today the store houses around 80 brands from across the world, with new designers joining the community every month, including menswear, womenswear and jewellery as well as work by ceramicists, artists and candlemakers. Each of the creatives rents their own space within the store, deciding what to sell and how much of it, with 50m receiving a commission based on their sales.
The community-based concept allows designers the increasingly rare opportunity to meet with customers face-to-face, which can encourage a circular economy system. Instead of disposing of clothes after just a few wears, customers may be more inclined to keep, re-sell or gift an item if they have an emotional attachment to it, having been part of its creation.
Some pieces on the store’s online platform are also strictly made to order, again nurturing a sense of collaboration between the designer and their audiences. By slowing down the process of shopping for clothes, 50m not only hope to create a more sustainable environment, they are also paving the way for emerging designers who want to do things differently.
As of August 2020, the concept store is home to a new Members Gallery which will provide a space for the designer community to not only sell but also allow for atelier, digital content, photography and exhibitions.
