How Hush quietly became the British high street’s winning label

It is purely coincidental that the ascent of the high street brand Hush has been a quiet, steady one.

As much of the rest of the high street has crumbled and failed to stand up to digital, youth-oriented competitors such as Boohoo, Hush has held its ground as a destination for grown-up, comfortable and joy-bringing style.

Today, with 150 employees, it marks 18 years of business. Compared to many of the behemoth retailers that dominated in Britain when Hush launched in 2003 (Topshop was in its heyday, and Primark pushed faster-than-fast fashion) the brand is relatively small fry. Yet by never over-inflating, or being too loud in the marketplace, it grew to sales heights of £40 million in 2019, gaining a cultish group of loyal followers along the way. These days it is rare to find a brand that knows exactly who its customer is and what they want – in the long term, Hush has won simply by listening.

That customer looks a lot like Mandy Watkins, the 53-year-old who founded the brand and still serves as creative director and co-owner. Originally from Australia, Watkins had moved to the UK with her husband and later business partner, Rupert Youngman and simply wanted warm and comfortable, yet stylish, clothes to wear during our winters.

“I was commuting three hours a day to and from a job I wasn’t enjoying and all I wanted to do when I got home in the evening was change into something that made a night at home something to look forward to,” she tells The Telegraph. “I wrote the business plan on the train and started the business with the cheque I received when they made me redundant.”

Hush collections are famed for their statement knits, for their slouchy trousers, the soft-but-smart jumpsuits and the wear-everywhere accessories. Watkins started with pyjamas and loungewear and built out the offering over the years to cover more scenarios – clothes you might want to wear out to dinner with friends, or to the pub. The 2020 pandemic, of course, proved no issue at all for her concept.

“We sold over 100,000 pairs of joggers in 2020, that’s about one pair every five minutes throughout the year,” Watkins says. “There has been a general casualisation of women’s wardrobes over the past couple of decades, but for a long time no-one was really designing clothes for where we spend most of our time – in or around our homes. At the beginning [of the business] it was all about loungewear and clothes you’d wear at home and at the time I’m not sure I really thought beyond that. I was told at various times that no-one wears pyjamas anymore or that we would never sell joggers, but they do and we do. It has now become something of a way of life and that shift is surely only going to get bigger as post-pandemic the boundaries between home and work get increasingly blurred and more of our lives are perhaps lived locally.”

Watkins says that staying true to what she knows her customer is looking for, rather than getting caught up in chasing new demographics or trends, has been the key to the business’s success. Stocked in 37 John Lewis & Partners stores as well as nationwide pop-ups, the brand has also managed to primarily sell online avoiding the costly problem of opening too many physical shops (a particularly prevalent issue for retailers in the last two years).

Cait mini dress, £75; Lucan Chelsea boots, £149; Frankie midi dress, £110; Mabel striped jumper, £89; Elsa pyjamas, £59; Lucetta scarf, £49; all at hush-uk.com

“On one hand, I think the Internet and the explosion of online retail caught out a lot of the bigger retailers, while allowing smaller independent brands to get in front of audiences they couldn’t have hoped to reach previously,” Watkins says of why her strategy has paid off. “On the other hand, I think we all increasingly want brands with a distinct offering and their own personality, which typically the bigger retailers can’t provide.”

The idea of a laid back, confident wardrobe that is flexible to many situations is, Watkins says, what women really want now.

“High street fashion has traditionally put women into boxes, often by age or stage of life,” she says. “It was very prescriptive; there would be workwear, occasionwear, leisurewear, activewear… That’s not how I dress and I don’t think it’s how a lot of other women dress. I love the pieces that I come back to time and again, that I can style slightly differently for different environments. And I love the fact that, if I’m not wearing something, my teenage daughter will be.”

“That’s what Hush is about,” she adds. “Breaking down those boundaries and designing clothes for the lives we actually lead.”