LC Designs was founded in 1922 and is now in its 4th generation of family running the business. Originally famed for its clock business (Trading at the time under London Clock Company) the business has diversified over the years, moving into gifting, handbags, homewares, men’s accessories and more.
Interview with Chloe Pestell, Director of LC Designs.
A brief description of the company and its activities.
Chloe Pestell: We work on white label projects for global retailers, as well as working on our own brands in-house; our most successful being Stackers. Stackers is stocked in over 40 countries globally, with 7 franchise partners and a strong B2C website.
What are the main areas of activity of the company?
C.P: Our starting point is always the product, we strive to bring innovative, different and new products to the marketplace, thanks to our in-house design team. This then leads the way for growth and outreach to our global distribution network of major wholesalers, franchise partners, independent businesses and B2C.
What’s the news about new products/services?
C.P: Our latest collection was a newer area for us, the wellness space. We have seen huge growth potential here so wanted to create products that would aid people in this area of their life. We created a four-piece collection across four colours, a water bottle bag holder, bumbag, hanging washbag and compact jewellery roll. These items were also our first collection to be made from recycled nylon, leaning into the sustainability aspect that we are all trying to move towards.
What are the ranges of products/services?
C.P: We span across many categories, our core business is jewellery boxes and specifically Stackers branded, however we have diversified across handbags, travel accessories, homeware, beauty storage, tech storage and men’s gifts. The whole ethos is all based around your life being organised, so every product made has extensive features to truly add value and make you more organised day to day. For example, our bestselling backpack has a built in cable organiser in the front pocket, it comes with a purse, padded section for laptop, pocket for note books, phone section, key leash, luggage strap and more.
We also offer a white label service for customers. Our design team will create a CAD for approval, we then send this to our sample house, once this sample is produced, we will made any changes needed pre sign off and mass production.
What is the state of the market where you are currently active?
C.P: Being a global business, it is a mixed picture, there are areas such as UAE that are in a growth period, whereas mainland Europe seems to be struggling more. We are seeing pockets of growth here in the UK that are being driven by newness and product innovation. Ensuring we are keeping our brand relevant through strong content; community building and paid marketing is key and we invest heavily in this.
What can you tell us about market trends?
C.P: Firstly, if the last few years have taught us anything it’s to be adaptable. We had a huge boom during covid as everyone was at home organising, many of our products were perfect for this. Then came another wave where everyone was able to travel again, so our travel accessories suddenly became our bestsellers.
We are seeing a continued effort to move towards becoming more sustainable, so internally we are making changes where we can move towards this. From reviewing packaging to releasing collections that are made from pre and post-consumer recycled materials.
We are seeing the cost of living crisis effect markets, so there are some end consumers who are trading down, perhaps instead of buying a Classic Jewellery Box Set at £60 they are opting for just the individual Jewellery Box Lid at £35. We are mindful with our new collections to have a range of price points so the brand is still accessible to all our customers and we are encouraging this thinking to our wholesalers too.
What are the most innovative products/services marketed?
C.P: All our products are built with purpose and to solve problems, but the core and the original Stackers product is the Stackable Jewellery Box. Each person has a different jewellery collection, so we created a ‘create your own jewellery box’ concept. Whereby the customer can choose from several size options, tray configurations and colours, and stack these all together to create a full custom jewellery box tailored to their needs.
The three size options also inter-stack, so two mini layers stack side by side to sit on top of a classic layer, and two classic layers stack side by side to fit on a supersize layer. We then added in additional stackable options, so you can add stackable drawers, stackable makeup organisers and so on.
What estimations do you have for 2024?
C.P: We are constantly diversifying and growing our collections, and we have some fantastic launches Q4 in the run up to Christmas. From bigger collections to stocking fillers, we hope these will be very successful and help with our continued growth.
We are a little worried about how late the date for Black Friday is this year, as it will spill over into the start of December so we just need to think of innovative way to encourage customers to shop earlier.