Seasalt plans major move into US via Eastern Seaboard indies

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Feb 24, 2020

Cornish clothing brand Seasalt is riding a wave of interest in affordably-priced, but with a premium image, lifestyle-based labels and is set to leverage its fast expansion in its domestic UK market into growth abroad, particularly in the US.

The brand is benefiting from a trend-light approach and a lifestyle-focused group of customers who’ve also helped labels like Joules, Joe Browns and (much earlier) Boden, develop into mega-sized businesses.

Seasalt, which was  founded in 1981 but only began to grow fast in recent years, has now struck deals with 150 independent fashion boutiques in America, a report in the Times said on Monday.

It currently has 70+ UK stores and a staff of around a thousand with CEO Paul Hayes saying it saw a 43% rise in international sales over the Christmas period. Unsurprisingly, it says growth outside of its core UK market is therefore a key priority and particularly wants to push into the Americas.

The brand is very much about living a seaside lifestyle and Hayes said that the company has struck deals to open concessions in shops along the Eastern Seaboard of the US.

This is an approach that replicates its early expansion in the UK and also helps it avoid the American department stores sector that's battling well-publicised problems at present.

But as well as its activity in the US where it’s avoiding department stores, the newspaper said the company has also launched a distributor partnership with the New Zealand department store Ballantyne and is targeting Australia as well.

Seasalt has raised £16 million in funding in the past couple of years with £11.5 million of that coming from growth investor BGF and the rest from banking giant Santander.