Honest and relevant, Cole Buxton's recipe for success

Cole Buxton, a London-based fashion brand offering quality logo sweatshirts and wardrobe essentials, is looking to the next chapter after 10 years in business.

The brand is part of a new crop of players in the menswear market that has managed to remain profitable and expand its offering in a challenging retail climate where the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the UK's cost of living crisis has forced brands including Vampire's Wife, Christopher Kane and Julien Macdonald into bankruptcy.

In 2022, the brand opened its first physical store in Carnaby, a busy shopping destination in central London. It quickly became one of Soho's must-see locations alongside End, Palace, Stüssy and Supreme.

The brand, which counts the UK, US, Australia, Germany and Canada as its main direct-to-consumer markets, launched into wholesale last year by setting up a showroom in Paris.

According to the brand's founder, Cole Buxton, who studied sportswear design at Falmouth University and often draws inspiration from his well-dressed friends, the reception from shoppers has been positive. The brand has won over 20 stores worldwide, including Harrods, De Bijenkorf, Brown Thomas, Beymen, Eraldo, Kadewe, Selfridges, Flannels, Bloomingdale's Dubai and Harvey Nichols in Doha and Dubai.

Buxton believes shoppers are attracted to the brand because it is maintaining its pricing structure while many of its competitors are raising their prices due to inflation. A Cole Buxton logo T-shirt costs £85, a tracksuit jacket is sold at £195 and an embroidered running cap is sold at £60.

He showed a leather jacket from the spring 2025 collection and said: “We have to think about our roots, where we come from and the type of customers we’re already selling to. For a leather jacket that should probably sell for £5,000 for the cost of making it, we’re selling it for a lot less than it should be. When we told buyers the price, they said: ‘Fuck, it should be three times that.’”

He argued that if he started selling products at significantly higher prices, it would harm the brand's image.

“If we launch a hoodie that’s supposed to be super premium and we make it double the price of the basic model, does that suggest to people that the basic models aren’t that good? All brands are pricing way too high. I’ve learned that from shoppers this year. But the reality is that people aren’t stupid. You don’t need to sell a £500 T-shirt,” Buxton added.

The designer, originally from Derby, England, believes that luxury doesn't necessarily have to mean a high price tag, but rather “drape, silhouette, attention to detail and quality.”

“We’re now in some of the best stores in the world. You can put our hoodie next to any luxury hoodie. The quality is the same and we’re selling it for a quarter of the price of luxury. We’re just authentic. We’ve always been very open with our community. They know we come from working class backgrounds,” Buxton said.

Full transparency is a big reason the brand has been able to build strong connections with its community. It has released a series of hour-long YouTube docuseries detailing how the brand has overcome difficult situations and come out stronger than before. For example, in 2021, the brand operated at a loss because a supplier “really ripped us off,” according to Buxton.

But overall, the brand was able to continue operating and delivering during the pandemic because it took a risk and imported a large amount of raw materials at the start of the health crisis – knowing that the global supply chain would be disrupted – so that the company could manufacture locally in the UK, where factories remained open, while China and Italy were in varying levels of lockdown.

The designer said that with wholesale and category expansion underway, the brand is preparing to enter “Cole Buxton 2.0.”

“Since we started doing showrooms in Paris, everything has become much clearer because we now create collections, whereas before we created piece by piece. In the early years, we only had a hoodie, a T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants,” explains Buxton.

In addition to broader and more diverse collections, the brand has launched an eyewear collaboration with London-based brand Lexxola.

Last December, the brand also introduced Wilson, its first foray into footwear. The minimalist sneaker is named after the brand's co-founder, Jonny Wilson, who joined the company in 2017 and now serves as CEO.

Later this summer, Cole Buxton is set to unveil its second shoe design, a pair of mules, perfect for a seamless transition from the beach to a house party in the Mediterranean sun.

“We started designing the mule at the same time as the sneaker, it took us a little longer to get there. I’m more excited about the mule because it’s more in line with my taste,” Buxton said, adding that an even broader range of shoe designs is currently in development.

Buxton said the brand is also open to collaborations. Top of his dream list are furniture designers, guitar brands or “something a little more original and interesting.”

However, obtaining additional financial support is not on the agenda.

“As long as Jonny and I are running the company, we want to have full control,” Buxton said. “I’ve never really been interested in working for someone else. I guess there will come a time when we have to make that decision. But honestly, I think that will be the time when I step away. I’m very happy with where we are now and the growth we’ve had independently. We’ve taken things slow and long for a reason.”