Gouldens

Jul 20, 2023

Sign Up Enter your email to receive editorial updates, special offers and breaking news alerts from Vogue Business. You can unsubscribe at any time. Please see our privacy policy for more information. Close Inside Jaded London’s plan to hit £100m with DTC drops and viral trends The British brand, now 10 years in business, has navigated TikTok and timed releases to hit £41 million in sales. Now, it wants to more than double that by targeting the US and Asia. When British label Jaded London launched in 2013, sibling founders Grant and Jade Goulden befriended celebrities and hotel concierges, to gift stars like Rihanna in their hotel rooms on visits to London. And, when Taylor Swift found a Jaded sequin bomber jacket at Ellie Goulding’s house and wore it on stage for her 1989 tour, the duo immediately dropped it on their website to harness the buzz. Swift’s team ordered more jackets in every colour. Jaded London founders Grant and Jade Goulden. Photo: Jaded London “[Taylor Swift] was the biggest moment,” Grant says. “Rather than selling the jacket wholesale, we kept it for our DTC. It was $100 and we couldn’t keep them in stock.” Over its 10-year history, the brand has capitalised on key viral pieces, sold direct-to-consumer in get-it-while-you-can drops. A second breakthrough came last summer when Jaded’s parachute pants went viral on TikTok, worn by legions of creators and celebrities including Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner and even her daughter Stormi. Now, Jaded’s goal is to cross £100 million in sales by 2027, up from this year’s £41 million, which was a 61 per cent increase over 2022. With 40 per cent of customers in the US, it’s eyeing further expansion there, as well as potential growth into Asia-Pacific and potential new categories like more elevated fashion and beauty to get there. Today, 90 per cent of the brand’s revenue is DTC, with 10 per cent of sales from stockists including Selfridges, Luisaviaroma and US-based e-tailer Revolve. Family business From a clothing manufacturing family, the Goulden siblings leveraged their dad’s connections to UK-based suppliers and launched a small first collection in 2013, partly inspired by Jay-Z and Kanye West’s ‘Watch the Throne’ tour aesthetic. “It was all about Riccardo Tisci at Givenchy, leather skirts, stars and rottweilers on T-shirts,” Grant says. “There were so many influences: Virgil Abloh, Pyrex Gallery, A$AP Rocky, A$AP Mob. That was the era, but it was all unaffordable.” Most Popular By Madeleine Schulz They launched Jaded as a unisex brand of more affordable T-shirts, sweats and hoodies in response to the trend. Launching a website cost £2,000. In the brand’s first season, it got picked up by Selfridges, Topshop, River Island and Asos. “We got the orders in September, we had to deliver them in November,” Grant says. “Most people can’t do that, but because we were doing it in the UK, we were able to. We were printing on blank garments and just doing easy cut and sew.” After the first year, the brand moved beyond streetwear to include denim and more intricate designs from partywear to outerwear, so they shifted production to accredited factories in China and Turkey, many of them found via Paris supplier expo Première Vision. Initially, the Gouldens worked with one employee, who would help package orders. But soon, it got out of hand. “It went from three orders a day to 30, then more,” Jade says. “We had to get ahead of e-comm pretty quickly.” The company has never taken outside funding and grew the team organically in line with its sales. Now, the two are co-CEOs: Jade manages the women’s business, Grant the men’s and they both keep creative oversight over the whole operation. Jade and Grant’s father John and his business partner Paula are also partners. Grant Goulden manages Jaded London men’s and Jade manages women's. Photo: Jaded London Lockdown was the turning point Before Covid-19, Jaded was at around 12 employees, doing fit sessions in Jade’s house, with sales at around £4 million. As the pandemic hit, wholesale partners began to panic and cancel orders. So, the Gouldens decided to invest more in their website. “We started doing the drop model and building hype, [Gen Z] were on their phones, a lot of them had furlough money. The timing was right.” Most Popular By Madeleine Schulz Jaded quickly pivoted to selling matching neutral jersey tracksuits to respond to lockdown trends. Grant persuaded one of their suppliers to do a small run of products, below the usual minimum. “I'll never forget, I sat on Shopify, on a Sunday in March 2020 and just watched the order sell out. We didn’t stop from that week, we did every single Sunday.” Now, the drops are twice a month, building more excitement. Typically they range from 10-30 styles. In the first year of lockdown, Jaded’s sales surged from £7 million in 2020 to almost £24 million in 2021. TikTok has been a key driver in the brand’s success. The brand jumped on TikTok in 2020 as the platform began to grow during lockdown. Now it has 5 million likes across its two accounts, with videos regularly attaining hundreds of thousands of views. Jaded’s content embodies the agile, early adopter ethos that has contributed to the brand's explosive growth in recent years, says Dave Morrissey, vertical manager, e-comm and retail at TikTok. “Jaded is a brand ingrained in the street fashion landscape; they often collaborate with independent designers and creatives, with their Editions movement, and are adapting that well for the TikTok community,” he says. “People are looking for a two-way dialogue with brands and TikTok allows brands such as Jaded to be at the epicentre of trends, making them feel relevant and accessible to new audiences.” Jaded’s menswear customer is around 20-21, versus 24-25 on the womenswear. The men’s TikTok account is more youthful and lo-fi, therefore, with younger talent and a less aspirational feel. “We did a pop-up in New York last September. And we spent a few grand, let’s say, on a campaign with a photographer,” Grant says. “We also did a TikTok which probably cost less than £500, where we found a cool group of kids and dressed them.” The TikTok hit 2.8 million views and 23,000 saves. Last year, Jaded launched its now-viral parachute pants, promoting it all over TikTok. The idea came from a trending photo on Pinterest of David and Victoria Beckham wearing voluminous trousers and a tank top in the 1990s. It was originally designed for the men’s line. “We didn’t even gift it. It sold out instantly. And we had Hailey Bieber, Kylie Jenner, the Hadids — everyone’s stylist was requesting them in every colour,” Jade says. Jaded even made a custom pair for Jenner’s daughter Stormi. “We didn’t even have a PR firm, it was just all completely organic.” Since they launched in 2022, Jaded has sold over 200,000 units of parachute pants, representing £8.5 million in sales. This moment really pushed the brand to the next level in terms of reach, says Hastings. Most Popular By Madeleine Schulz “Young consumers are connected 24/7 to their internet bubbles and expect brands to keep up and know their references (from Gen Z slang to the latest hit tv show, cultural events, celebrity drama and catwalks),” says Dan Hastings, deputy foresight editor consultancy The Future Laboratory. Jaded London’s products and campaigns riff on popular culture. Photo: Jaded London “Reacting too late could mean being eclipsed by the latest new trend.” That said, Jaded’s approach to TikTok isn’t particularly groundbreaking. The brand is just good at jumping on trends and sounds quickly, he adds. Jaded drops are inspired by pop culture and often the brand will turn them around in a matter of weeks, to stay relevant. The brand has done shoots inspired by TV series The Last Dance, Barbiecore and indie sleaze, just as they begin to appear. The brand also has Editions, its new collaboration series, working with smaller labels including satirical viral brand Cowboys of Habit and 3D-printed, biodegradable sunglasses label La Maskarade, which helps bring the brand to more niche audiences and shows its customers that it’s at the forefront of Gen Z style. Most Popular By Madeleine Schulz It’s an everyday battle to stay relevant, the founders say. “I always use this analogy and it’s a bit cringe but like, it’s like being on a running machine and you can’t get off because you have to constantly come up with the next thing,” Grant says. “If we’re doing well now, great. But it’s like, can you keep that going? There’s a pressure to reinvent and get it right every time.” Foresight’s Hastings agrees it’s a race to keep up. “Attention spans are so short, and consumers are bombarded with so much advertising and content,” he says. “It seems much safer to release regular drops with different styles than commit to a single design direction for an extensive collection as the main offer for four-six months.” After its lockdown hyper-growth, the Gouldens invested in recruitment. They scaled the business from 15 staff to 35 and secured the new office in a more central London location, to attract better talent to the business. The majority of staff are aged 21-27 and unlike at other fashion businesses, the whole creative team is sat together, to create whole concepts around the drops, from the product design to the social media content, all in one go, the founders say. Physical events to drive international expansion As Jaded scales, the Goulden’s have their eyes on more in-person events and activations. “We’ve always shied away slightly from investing in the branding over the product. So we’re trying to build the lifestyle and the community and go after that side, because we want people to invest in the experience behind the product as opposed to, “here’s the latest trend, go and buy it”. That might mean a store, new categories like footwear or even a beauty line. It also means events. In April last year, the brand held a pop-up and party in LA in collaboration with Paper magazine. Buzzy DJs VTSS and Memphy played and attendees included Euphoria star Hunter Schafer and Chance the Rapper. “Unlike other brands, our events are underground,” Grant says. “We want to invite the cool kids of the area.” At an upcoming London event they’re going to give all the creatives they work with a guestlist, from models to photographers, to let them curate the crowd. The brand has done a pop-up at Coachella the last two years, which drives awareness and revenue and is now expected by fans, he adds. Most Popular Photo: Jaded London Jaded London was planning more US pop-ups, but now it’s setting its sights on Asia after its denim Chelsea dress was worn by K-pop stars Shuhua from (G)I-dle, Sakura from Le Sserafim, Winter from Aespa over recent months. Now, 10 per cent of sales are coming from Asia, the founders say. In China, people are bulk ordering pieces in various sizes to resell, showing growing demand. Now, it’s thinking about pop-ups and working with a local agency to get on Tmall and local social media platforms. “The agency found that we’re more searched than Off-White in the region,” Grant says. “Isn’t that crazy?” Jaded London wants to be a £100 million business in the next three to four years. “It will be hard to maintain growth like we had this year at 60 per cent, but we want to reach the £100 million milestone, remain profitable and be fully in control of the business,” Grant says. “You have your moments where you doubt yourself. But we want to be a huge brand with a great legacy.”