When the fashion store Topshop opened in New York just over a year ago, a torrent of hype ensured there were queues of shoppers at the door on the first day. There was a blizzard of red, white and blue ticker tape to mark the moment, and at the opening party A-list celebrities including Jennifer Lopez and the editor of US Vogue, Anna Wintour, rubbed shoulders with Topshop's chunky billionaire owner, Sir Philip Green.
A fortnight ago, just a few hundred yards further along Broadway, another big name in British fashion retailing – AllSaints – arrived in the Big Apple with an altogether lower-key launch.
But the word in the rag trade is that it is going down a storm with New York's fashion-conscious consumers, and has taken more than $1m in its first two weeks – beating the takings at Topshop, whose shop is almost twice the size.
The 70-strong AllSaints chain, for the uninitiated, is a little bit Goth. Its edgy clothing rails are a sea of black, beige, and grey. Its trademark motif is a skull and its speciality is the distressed look; clothes made to look well worn-in and scuffed Victorian-style boots without laces.
It's not cheap: leather jackets are north of £300; there are 45 graphic and skull-print T-shirts at up to £80 a piece; and more than 100 dresses averaging around £50 to £250.
Yesterday, AllSaints' chief executive, Stephen Craig, 42, was en route to New York and unable to comment on the bumper first weeks' takings. But he told Retail Week magazine earlier: "It's our flagship in the capital of our planet. Although it's still early days, the consumer reaction has been tremendous ... we are trading well ahead of expectations."
He added: "[Broadway] is the World Cup of fashion and we're confident of the months and years ahead. This was achieved with no marketing. It's a case of 'turn the key in the door' and let the consumer discover our brand."
And discover it they have. Last year, sales rose nearly 50% to £133m despite the high prices and the recession, while profits doubled to £24m.
It was quite an achievement, because last year AllSaints was almost wiped out in the Icelandic banking collapse. AllSaints' chairman, Kevin Stanford, the fashion entrepreneur who also co-founded Karen Millen, faced a battle with the administrators of the collapsed Kaupthing Bank to retain control of AllSaints. The high court had to intervene, but the argument was eventually settled.
Both sides now own the business and fresh finance has been provided by Lloyds Banking Group.
There is no typical AllSaints shopper, according to a source close to the chain: "They are really varied. The stores have beautiful tailoring in fine silks, next to skinny jeans and rock leather jackets. Their shoppers are aged 14 to 50."
The store, he said, had cashed in during the recession on "women who used to buy £2,000 dresses," who are now nipping into AllSaints instead.
The business, founded in 1994 as a menswear shop and named after All Saints Road in Notting Hill, London, is based in Spitalfields, in east London.
It doesn't advertise, preferring to drum up sales from free mentions in the fashion press and customer referrals. No staff are allowed to speak on behalf of the business.
"It is a conscious decision," said the source.
"AllSaints is all about word-of-mouth approval. It is not about being big and showy."
The New York store – called AllSaints Spitalfields – looks much like the UK versions: all bare brick and wood and with the signature front window stacked floor to ceiling with vintage sewing machines.
This week, The New York Times wrote of the "scavenged-looking merchandise": "A similarly cheerless vein was mined as far back as the 1970s, by Vivienne Westwood, the doyenne of the British punk movement. Her renegade spirit seems to permeate a store awash in hourglass dresses, mutton-sleeve blouses and hobble skirts, their hems hitched up to show off shredded hose and gaiters."
The NYT writer liked the AllSaints look, apart from the fact that it "seems to have been engineered for a reedy Dickensian waif" and therefore doesn't cater for rather larger American shoppers.
The New York store is the fourth to open in the US, after Los Angeles, Miami and Boston, and new outlets will open in the coming months in Santa Monica, Seattle, Las Vegas, San Francisco and inside the Bloomingdales. The plan is to have 30 stores in the US in the next three years. Next year, Craig plans to take the brand to Asia, with the first store planned in Hong Kong.
Neither cheap nor cheerful, but vintage chic
The clothes sold in AllSaints stores have a very particular aesthetic: a distinctive look that seems to have been designed to make the wearer look deliberately off kilter. This vision is extended across their shop floors, where old printing presses, looms and sewing machines give the effect of vintage market stalls.
Since the label launched as a menswear brand in 1994, it has developed and honed it's original rock-inspired formula — a look that has been one of the key overall trends in fashion during the past decade. In recent years, the label's advertising images have depicted models who look like they've just stepped out of a music video.
The signature look revolves around crumpled fabrics and clothes that often to the untrained eye might appear to be lopsided. Their logo, most recognisable on their fine gauge knitwear, is a ram's skull. In addition, the label sells commercial pieces, such as shoes, battered denim and skinny leather jackets, all given the AllSaints rock-like remix.
The fact that as a label they have stuck to honing a strong brand identity is key to their appeal. They do not pander to seasonal catwalk-driven trends, instead building up a loyal consumer base who know roughly what to expect each time they visit the store.
It is not a label for everyone though. Firstly, and despite the fact that a lot of its clothes are quite young in spirit, it's not cheap. Secondly, it is not always easy to work out how to wear the clothes, which sometimes feature one quirk too many. Lastly, sometimes it is the label of choice for fairly bland celebrities who want a route to instant edge.
Simon Chilvers