In 2010, George Heaton and his brother Mike used the sewing skills they learned from their grandmother to launch their own graphic T-shirt streetwear brand, REPRESENT. Fast forward to today and this proud British brand has significantly expanded its products and range. In 2023, REPRESENT will boast sales of $100 million, and will open its first store in LA in 2024. A permanent shop-in-shop in Harrods, London. opened Their first UK flagship store in their hometown of Manchester. Not bad for a brand that started as a university project.
Entrepreneur George Heaton learns about the brand’s origins, the strategies he and his brothers have used to achieve such tremendous growth, and offers his advice to aspiring style entrepreneurs looking to realize their vision. I spoke to George Heaton to find out.
first work
“This was originally a university project. For my design degree, I was supposed to create something that would sell in the graphic design field. At the time, there was a huge streetwear boom in America, like 2010. We started this website and printed 25 T-shirts with just “REPRESENT” on the front at a local screen printer and sold them to friends and friends’ families. Then a friend of theirs came to buy it, and then they printed 50 copies, then 100 copies. We wanted to break away from the norm of printed T-shirts and become a completely British brand. Then I wanted to take it a step further and create my own jeans, jackets, and wax pieces. I really like the first four or five years of REPRESENT. ”
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brand naming
“I was sitting in class at university and I wrote a list of 10 names on a piece of paper, and the representative was one of them, and a friend of mine looked at it and said, ‘If you take that away… It’s going to feel good.’” And that’s what it did. ”
family passion
“My brother, my partner, was also a graphic designer. My grandmother was a seamstress and taught us how to stitch and cut and sew. The first person I hired was a real person who knew how to make and cut clothes. I was a fashion student. And used me and my brother as fit models. So we created our first product. It’s not just ready-made T-shirts and hoodies. ”
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stand out in the crowd
“We introduced a fitted denim that didn’t exist on the market. That became our bread and butter over the years. It was very slim, stretchy, and had a lot of build-up at the hem.” I made it with my grandma.I had the fit adjusted and sent it to a random factory because I didn’t have the money to go to a famous factory. I got this sample back and thought, “These are the jeans I need and want. So let’s see if other people do it too.” I sold it online and sold 100 pairs a day without any marketing. ”
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Beyond denim and T-shirts
“We didn’t want to be just a denim brand. We wanted to be a fashion brand. We wanted to be able to explore all categories and offer our customers a complete wardrobe. We just wanted to create clothes for ourselves. So we branched out into footwear, pants, leather jackets, waxwork, and leather goods, and I believe that’s what led us to where we are today. 4% of its business, which it probably wouldn’t have been able to do if it had stuck with being a denim brand back in 2015. Take it through the difficult times that denim has had. ”
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The importance of physical stores
“Having a store is really important for advocacy, especially if you’re a luxury brand and you’re trying to sell at a high price. People want to be able to touch and feel the fabric to know what it is. They need to understand the quality of the work.”
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Advice for future fashion entrepreneurs
“Knowing what you’re good at and what you’re bad at is very important. Over the years, I realized that my creativity was being pushed to the side to handle business. That was terrible for the business.” That was my forte, so when I was able to hire a CEO, I was able to focus on the creative, content, and product side of things that I love. Overcoming your weaknesses and relying on yourself for your strengths is very important, and so was our business. ”
