In March there was a new resident on Redchurch Street in London’s East End: a small, understated shopfront whose windows offered a peek into a narrow boutique lined neatly with casual, refined men’s and women’s clothing in soft cottons and jersey knits. The subtle signage out front introduced this tasteful location as Seek No Further, but it was the smaller text below this which was a surprise: Fruit of the Loom.

Seek No Further is an experiment. Its parent company, Fruit of the Loom, you’ll almost certainly know, if not for its history –founded in the 1850s, it’s one of the world’s oldest apparel brands – then for its cotton briefs and T-shirts. It’s certainly not a name you’d associate with premium fashion, least not in the US, where the brand originates from Walmart and continues to fill shelf space at local Walmart stores, a go-to for amateur sports teams looking for T-shirts to print.

In Europe, however, Fruit of the Loom has a different legacy. Entering the market in the 1970s, the brand’s understated clothes were adopted as a kind of uniform by a generation of 501-wearing casuals throughout the eighties and nineties. While Fruit of the Loom struggled to gain respect stateside, in Europe it enjoyed something which sat just shy of a cult following.


“In Europe people have good memories of the brand,” says Dorothée Loermann, creative director of Seek No Further. “We wanted to do something with this history.” With nostalgia as its launch pad, in March Seek No Further released capsule collections for men and women in London and Berlin. “We went with the UK and Germany because of the big presence of Fruit of the Loom there,” explains Loermann, who, as former creative director of womenswear at French clothing line Surface to Air, knows a thing or two about premium clothing brands.  

Opening pop-ups in these cities is the perfect way for Fruit of the Loom to test the waters with its new premium offering. This temporary retail idea isn’t revolutionary, of course, and Fruit of the Loom isn’t the first brand to re-emerge with a more premium line to suit evolving cultural and market trends. What’s noteworthy, however, is the way the brand has used these pop-ups strategically, to seed the label into areas where consumers are known to be tastemakers. In other words, it is giving early adopters a taste for the capsule collections before expanding to the masses on the strength of these informed consumers’ good word. It seems a foolproof means of securing credibility for a big company with indie aspirations.  

Each capsule collection has been developed from scratch by a small team without the aid of big factories, based on Loermann’s idea of creating a total look for both men and women – “kind of like a start-up,” she says. Starting on this scale means Seek No Further can see what works and what doesn’t. “It’s like a trial run, and now we’ve seen that, we can launch bigger,” explains Loermann.
We're not trying to remake Fruit of the Loom; it's more about talking about Fruit of the Loom under a different concept. Of course, it’s important not to forget the presence of Fruit of the Loom in this process. How many independent brands have the luxury of multi-million dollar backing and decades of business expertise as a buffer against failure? Loermann acknowledges this, but reassures that Seek No Further is not a ploy by the parent brand to manipulate a young, cool audience. The premium line stands on its own two feet, although Loermann is more than happy to pay tribute to Fruit of the Loom’s legacy. “We’re not trying to remake Fruit of the Loom; it’s more about talking about Fruit of the Loom under a different concept.” Rather than a complete departure from Fruit of the Loom’s 160 year legacy, Seek No Further signifies an exploration into more a localised, sophisticated and informed territory.  


If informed locals are the target audience, then so far, Seek No Further has done a good job in engaging them. With its pop-ups, the brand has inserted itself into local communities – while also building its own. Besides the quality design and art direction Seek No Further possesses, it’s the brand’s immediate facilitation of the local creative communities that has seen it win over its target audience in a short space of time. Rather than simply touting a new clothing label, Loermann has aspirations for Seek No Further as a “complete lifestyle concept”; basically, its aesthetic should reflect the lifestyle of the locales where it exists. “It’s about identification,” says Loermann. “Building a community, rather than making it unreachable. I don’t know anyone who lives a luxurious kind of lifestyle, I just know modern people … people who are inspired by making things, for instance.”

The stores themselves are a reminder of the consideration Seek No Further has given to this mindset. Designed by acclaimed London practice Universal Design Studio, they’re intended as destinations while they last – if not for their clothing, then for their architecture. Both locations feature permanent displays by hotly tipped local artists, such as a Sarah Illenberger in their Berlin store, and a Gary Card display in their London branch.  

The brand’s positioning as a facilitator of creativity extends online. Rather than shouting about its product with a hard-sell approach, Seek No Further’s web presence reads more like an inspirational blog. “Inspired by yesterday’s visionaries, today’s trailblazers and tomorrow’s innovators, Seek No Further believes in a pioneering spirit,” reads a heartening, if whimsical, intro on the homepage. So far, online content is limited to a simple lookbook and profile features on young creatives; such as rising film star Tim Oliver Schultz and Berlin songstress Luca Vasta. What’s new about this? “I don’t think ‘new’ exists,” retorts Loermann. “It’s more like doing things that make something look different. It’s about the combination of how you put things together – how an assemblage looks different from another assemblage.” This definition is less superficial given its context. “We’re introducing new people to the conversation and bringing all these people together,” says Loermann. It’s another strategic move: grow the people with the brand.

So what’s next for Seek No Further? The pop-ups will close, to be replaced by permanent locations next year. Then larger spring/summer 2015 collections, currently in the works, will see the brand re-emerge on a larger scale in January. E-commerce will also play a role in expanding the brand’s reach globally and several international territories are being explored as viable market options. The community spirit tested this spring will remain intact. “For now, it’s important to have the blog, to form a community and keep it organic and inspiring – that’s the idea and that’s not going to change,” says Loermann. “But the idea is also for the Seek No Further community to grow. We want to keep the spirit and excitement, but share it with other people. It’s about creating buzz with nice actions.”

Photo by Johnnie Craig

Originally printed in Protein Journal #13