Store Stories: Belstaff

Fashion : News

14 October 2019

Because there’s no place quite like the Great British high street – from its niche independents, to seasonal Pop-Ups and those expansive yet elegant department stores – Because Magazine is on a mission to champion the bricks-and-mortar of London in all its glory. Each week, we’ll beeline to the rails of our favourite retailers to scope out the must-have pieces and in-store exclusives that are more than worth making an effort for. This week, we're on Regent Street to nose around Belstaff's new space.

Oh how we love the volatility of British weather... Rain on the morning commute, sunshine while you're stuck in the office, then a bit of thunder for the commute back home (we're not bitter, we swear). As November creeps upon us, we know there's going to be an abrupt shift from these chilly starts to finger numbing mornings, so with that in mind, this week we chose the season-apropos #StoreStories to help us hand-pick this winter's outerwear staples.

Behold, this month Belstaff opened its flagship store on no other than London’s Regent Street. Need to recharge your shopping batteries with a barista coffee? What about a perfectly prepared G&T? This store has you covered… it’s a hard life.

Belstaff is much more than just a clothing brand, it comes from a rich history of adventure: from exploration, aviation and motorsport, to catwalks across the world and a firm favourite among the great and good. As a brand that focuses on sustainability, Belstaff Regent Street now encourages customers to do the same. The store will provide regular ‘How To Care’ for your jackets classes, which will focus on re-waxing and repairing. And don’t worry if you can’t make it, Belstaff will be filming and sharing these videos far and wide.

Intrigued by the rich heritage of the clothes (and to take a peep at the G&T lounge), we visited the Belstaff’s new flagship store to get the lowdown from Belstaff's Customer Experience Manager, Fabio De Matteis, on the ‘it’ outerwear items of the season.

What… Peacoat.

Because… “The Peacoat has been a very classic item for a long time, especially with our customers. The Peacoat is a very versatile item: customers can wear it in smart way, while they can also can wear it in their spare time with jeans and trainers. We have a lot of customers that are businessmen and most of the day they're in a suit, so they can actually easily wear this... even when traveling! This season the peacoat is quite light as well. Plus, like most of the items that we have in the collection, they don’t belong to any specific season as they are quite 'classic'. Classic doesn’t mean boring. Classic means something that you can wear easily in the future because it’s never going to go out of fashion.”

What… Journey Jacket.

Because… “The Journey Jacket, introduced last year in March, is one of the items that I really really love. It’s been one of the key items that shows the introduction of the Creative Director Sean Lehnhardt-Moore's vision for the company. Sean is someone understood the core of the company – the roots – from the day he arrived; now, he's making it modern for an even bigger crowd of customers. This is one of the items and the styles that I really love for myself; as soon as I saw this style of jacket, it harkened back to the Belstaff I started working with ten years ago... Even the name of the style itself, 'The Journey Jacket', says it all. It’s apart of your journey as a customer, as a person. Nowadays, everyone is on a journey everyday. Even being on the underground to come to work is a journey, right? It’s a very versatile jacket as well. In terms of the construction, it’s a heavy canvas with leather trimming and it’s been stone washed just to give it this look that it’s been with you for awhile already.”

What… Marvin T. Coat

Because… “There’s a link between the old and the new in our current collection. The name of this coat is the Marvin T. Coat. It's a style we used to have a long time ago; a classic 'perfecto' jacket from the 50s and 60s. A lot of people know Belstaff as being related to the motorcycle world, but it’s not just the motorcycle world anymore. Sean decided to come out with this longer version of the Marvin T. As I said, it’s a link between the past – the history of Belstaff – and the current collection and current trends.”

Support bricks-and-mortar: visit Belstaff at Regent Street, or shop online via Belstaff.co.uk.