Beyond FMCG
Breaking down barriersin feet and fashion
Crocs and Uniqlo lead the charge in Britain’s fashion frontier
In Britain’s 2023 fashion scene, higher prices cast long shadows. Inflation-busting efforts were at the centre of most strategies. But Crocs and Uniqlo emerged as beacons of growth and ingenuity. Whilst many brands saw their volumes shrink, these two fashion front-runners painted a different story, vividly coloured by strategic innovations and daring moves.
Crocs: A comfort revolution
Crocs, once whispered as a fashion faux pas, has transcended its origins to become a symbol of comfort and cool. In 2023, Crocs became the 78th largest apparel brand in Britain, ascending more swiftly than any other in its league. The numbers are impressive: people buying more categories from Crocs has meant the average number of categories bought has risen 13% for them this year.
A strategic alchemy of brand collaborations and shrewd diversification fuelled its rise. Crocs collaborated with brands that ran the gamut — everyone from McDonald’s and Levi’s to Disney, and high-fashion virtuoso Balenciaga. It also made waves in everyday fashion scenes across social platforms like Instagram and TikTok.
Crocs also won big by offering shoes that also presented a lifestyle — a canvas for personal expression through their customisable charms that resonated deeply with a (mostly) digitally native audience.
This blend of high and low, of everyday and elite positioning, catapulted Crocs more places than any other brand in the top 80 to find an impressive 1.9 million consumer touchpoints last year alone. The brand’s magic formula? A keen focus on broadening its consumer base, growing its market penetration by 0.7 percentage points. In other words, it found new space. It did this on several levels and had particular success with its ‘Come as you are’ campaign that encouraged its consumers to be themselves for any occasion. It also made moves on the high fashion front, releasing a limited-edition Christian Cowan x Crocs collaboration shoe along with its ‘Crocs Height Collection’ of platform shoes unexpected, but successful shifts away from its base products.
Uniqlo: Mastering the art of everyday life
While Crocs spun its narrative with vibrant collaborations, Uniqlo harnessed the power of dressing casually but embracing tech-forward materials and design. Uniqlo’s tale in 2023 was one of quiet yet robust expansion, welcoming 500,000 additional shoppers into its fold in the UK. The brand’s growth was not a flashy headline but a steady drumbeat of increasing presence and unwavering commitment to quality.
In a year marked by cautious consumer spending, Uniqlo and Crocs rose as victors, redefining expectations and carving out niches that spoke directly to the heart of what consumers sought: comfort, functionality, and a touch of flair.
Uniqlo’s philosophy of ‘simple and essential yet universal’ continued to resonate across the aisles of both online platforms and brick-and-mortar stores, with in-house fabric technologies like HEATTECH, AIRism and UV Cut leading the change in functional fashion. As other retailers struggled to maintain their footing in the digital era, Uniqlo thrived, attributing much of its 2023 growth to in-store experiences that blend signature innovation with tactile consumer interactions.
