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Hush and Finery

Becky Goddard
Feb 1, 2017
3 min read

I have been aware of Hush the clothing brand for about 3 years, consequently I have made a couple of purchases and have been pleased with my items. Finery has been on my radar for approximately a year. What links these two (in short similar but very different) brands together is that they both have concessions in John Lewis on Oxford Street. John Lewis clothing concessions have a good mix; there is Whistles, The White Stuff, Jaegar, Ted Baker, Warehouse, Mango, Pure, Alice Temperley, French Connection, Fat Face, Joules (and others many more). Additionally there are their own brands such as Kin and John Lewis Weekend.

Finery has only just been around for just 2 years, a very young company that has significantly grown in a short space of time. There is an element of minimalist Scandi style in the company logo, but the clothing doesn't really reflect this. Could I call Finery 'a more grown up Topshop'? No, whilst that isn't far from what it is, I feel Finery deserves more than a generic comparison to describe what the clothes are about and what their place is on the High Street. So here goes: fashion forward, contemporary, varied and trendy but not too far out, the clothes are wearable and Finery seem confident in the quality. On their website there is quotations from the press i.e Sunday Times Style describes it as 'The fashion Industry's new favourite label' and there are many more similar. Pricing is in the higher high street band along side Reiss and Whistles, for instance a leather jacket costs £249. One thing that I noticed Finery don't seem to be keen on knit wear, perhaps this is an area that they are developing. Carrie Downie the company creative director describes Finery as '...It’s about putting the love back into the product again'. Downie has previously worked at both Topshop and ASOS.

Hush started in 2003, as an web store, but they send out a lovely catalogue and put a smaller catalogue edit as a flyer in magazines. Hush have opened pop up stores around London and have also successfully grown. So how would I describe Hush? Excellent basics (when high street competitors tend to cut corners here), wearable but on trend, simple prints, distinctive neutrals colour palette, good quality. They have a signature style and they don't compromise it with faddy fast trends that don't fit with their chosen aesthetic. Pricing is more than Topshop but on average not as high as Finery. Hush uses high quality materials such as cashmere and soft buttery leather. The reaction of Hush in the media is positive too, “If you love taking it easy in style, you’ll adore hush” The Daily Telegraph, there are also plenty of Hush pieces in magazines and on popular fashion websites and Blogs. Mandy Watkins the founder of Hush, set up the business using one laptop and a phone on her kitchen table. Watkins was born in Australia, and prior to setting up Hush in London worked as a clothing Buyer in Hong Kong, The first Hush catalogue was a small collection of Pj's, vest and a cardigan spread across 12 pages. Hush sells a distinctive lifestyle, there is a blog on their website which has clearly had time and energy invested in it to create the right vibe to sync with their product.