Established in 1984, Thomas Pink’s first store opened in Chelsea, London, offering classic-cut shirts in stylish, bold weaves and colours. Further stores soon followed in the West End and City of London, their distinctive interiors, pink-and-black packaging, and much-admired shirts quickly attracting a loyal clientele.

Now part of the luxury goods group LVMH, the brand’s range has expanded along with its reach. As well as shirts for men and women, Thomas Pink carries a wealth of luxurious silk ties, accessories and small leather goods. It offers cufflinks, cummerbunds, braces, socks, scarves, boxer shorts, nightwear, and more. Thomas Pink shirts have a loyal following in the US, with 20 stores everywhere from Dallas to Detroit, San Francisco to New York. In Europe, it has stores in Paris and Dublin. The company operates franchises in Mexico, Dubai and in Asia, where shops are located in Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai.

Thomas Pink has 34 stores in the UK including concessions at Selfridges, Harrods, House of Fraser and Fenwicks. In the USA it operates within Macy’s and in Paris within Galeries Lafayette. The benefit of operating a concession within a department store are, of course, the high traffic that they receive and the ability to showcase the brand to a wide audience.
Most recently, Thomas Pink has opened its first store in Hong Kong, whilst in the UK it opened a new store at Westfield London. There are plans for new stores in Singapore, China and Mexico.

“We are planning to extend our franchise network and are looking at a number of new territories as well as expanding our franchise network with existing partners,” said Jonathan Heilbron, President and CEO of Thomas Pink. “In our two biggest markets, the UK and US, we are always looking at opportunities as they arise.”

“Our ambition, as always, is to be the leading international shirt brand; for us, leading means leading in size, in service and in quality. Brand is obviously important to the Thomas Pink experience, creating something that customers love, that they aspire to and return to,” he says.

Hot on the heels of its highly successful new womenswear collection, key Thomas Pink stores are now undergoing something of a transformation. From September 2009, the brand will unveil a new women’s concept, dramatically changing the existing space at its Jermyn Street and Harrods stores.

Designed by leading San Francisco-based architect and interiors specialist, Brand+Allen, the new layout is designed to offer female customers a luxurious, visually inspiring yet easy-to-navigate environment.

“We have undertaken a lot of work on this,” says Heilbron. “The women’s area had begun to disconnect from the men’s in terms of its style, its fit-out and even to some extent the clothes themselves. Nowadays, women’s trends and needs have advanced and what we are trying to do is to ensure that we are relevant to the customer today.”
Whilst Heilbron does not consider the brand to be fashion-led, it does have a discreet signature that allows people to find their own style, giving them the freedom to be more daring in their choices.

For the full article please see the RLI September 09 issue