In a climate where British fashion houses are struggling to find their footing, Jade Holland Cooper is confidently building an empire, one gold-buttoned trench at a time. From a humble stall at Badminton to a £60 million burgeoning empire, she’s proven that intuition, tenacity, and strategic restraint can scale classic style into substance.
15 years in, Holland Cooper isn’t chasing trends, it’s building legacy: expanding into bespoke ateliers, menswear and a new 70,000 sq ft headquarters, all without a single external investor. We join Jade at the Cheltenham Festival as she shares insights into her strategic vision, the challenges of scaling a British luxury brand, and her approach to sustainable growth in a competitive market. Want to know why betting on yourself might be the most rewarding wager of all?
As the sun cast a crisp glow over the undulating course of Prestbury Park, I was back in Cheltenham and the Festival was in full equestrian swing. The Jockey Club Enclosure, brimming with the great and the good, was matching supply with demand, and so no flute was left empty.
The day’s races had already delivered their share of exhilaration. The Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase saw a stunning upset as Lecky Watson surged past the post at 20/1, defying expectations and exemplifying the unpredictable nature of jump racing. Also, putting my spread for the day in serious jeopardy.
Fashion, much like racing, thrives on a delicate balance of tradition and innovation, a philosophy that Jade Holland Cooper has intricately woven into her brand’s DNA.
PR: I lost the first bet. It was a tip as well, which is slightly irritating, but there we go.
Jade: Oh no!
As I understand it, your first business was selling farm eggs at school. When you take those first steps in your entrepreneurial life and start making money, what’s the effect? Do you have that sudden spark?
I think you are either born that way or not. You’re either entrepreneurial in an authentic sense, or you’re not. As much as sometimes you want it to leave you, it can’t – and I think whether I knew it or not at that time, the egg business was a serious thing.
Whether that was the addiction of buying, or selling then getting something and selling that, I don’t know, but it is something that I think you’re born with. I’ve seen that over time in people – some only do it for a little while before fizzling out, but I absolutely love it.
Everyone has to have that first hit: that moment when they realise that goods equal sales. But you were faced with a choice, weren’t you? Because you were somewhere between agriculture, diversification at the farm and accepting a place at fashion college in London – I guess you were torn.
I was torn, I felt like I was probably the only kid at school who didn’t really know what I wanted to do. Everyone knew really, from the age of 16, which path they were going on, and then you’re taking the A-levels and writing your CV. Right up until the summer holidays, I didn’t know what to do, but after a good couple of weeks working on the farm I thought, “No, this is what I’m going to do.” So, I turned down the fashion college, and went to agricultural college.
During the first few months of college, I set up a jewellery-making business from my bedroom – there were constantly beads everywhere! I was driving everyone nuts, my keyboard was getting more and more jammed with beads… but that was a sign, it was me saying: “OK, I want to do more, I’m a trader”.
So, you set up a two-metre stall at Badminton. What informed that initial collection of Tweed Skirts?
Being at places like this. I was coming to events and couldn’t find anything to wear. A lot of people were wearing the same thing. Like, literally the same thing. Look at the amount of people here: 200,000 people over four days, a plethora of different backgrounds, but so many wealthy people with nothing to wear. I just thought, “OK, this is a massive white space.”
I think this is a message to all entrepreneurial people: If you can find that white space and you can work hard enough, you can make a success. I feel thankful I went to the Ag college, because if I’d gone to London I would never have seen that. I’ve kept very true to my consumer, understanding who they are, what they are doing and when.
Scaling from trial events and face-to-face retail to selling online and now boutique, do you have different ways of maintaining that customer interaction?
Instagram has been an amazing portal for me to be connected daily to my customers. It gives you the connection to your audience in a way that you would never have had a few years ago; it’s a forum of feedback you would never be able to get on that kind of scale anywhere else.
That, for me, is something I have to retain. It’s so important. Also, on a Saturday, I will go into the store at least once a day. Every week I meet with my whole team, keen for them to tell me what’s happening. I’m obsessive about what’s right, what’s working, how we can be better. I am so involved in every aspect.
You’ve described yourself – on a couple of occasions – as being incredibly tenacious.
Yeah, I am.
I think it can be both a gift and a curse. I often describe it to people like, “I’m going to keep hounding you until you give me an answer because I’m tenacious. I’m in the bulldozer. I’ll happily get out if you give me an answer. Or say no.” When you’re starting your business, when you’re levelling up, when you’re pushing it forward: what key traits have helped push you forward on that journey to get where you are?
I think tenacity, emotional intuition, understanding people before they know what it is they want. After all, you’re not just building a brand, you’re taking your team on a journey. That’s not easy, and some people can cope with it, some people can’t – you’ve got to be able to navigate human beings particularly well. On top of this, you need laser focus, you need to have confidence in your own abilities and you need to understand where your weaknesses are very quickly.
In an interview you gave with Grace Beverley, you talked about your formative years and you said that you were naturally quite shy.
Very shy!
So was I. But everyone has a moment that catalyses them. Was there a key moment for you? Was it a transaction where you went, “You know what? I think the fashion business is working. I think it’s going to be…”
I think it was probably when I became 17 or 18, my confidence started to get stronger. That wasn’t to do with the business – I just started to become more gregarious, more confident, more able to hold my own. And that built more and more, so by the time I was 21, I was pretty ballsy.
You know, you have to be ballsy. “I’m telling myself I’m going to be a big brand.” Believe in me. I am a salesman, I’m going to sell you the dream and we’re going to go on that journey together. You know, it’s hard, and working the trade stands thickened my skin because the general public will just tell you how it is. If you’re a shrinking wallflower and you’re going to have a cry when somebody doesn’t like it, forget it. Because it’s hardcore and you’ve got to believe in who you are, where you’re going and how that dream is going to become a reality.
Moving into your men’s range was an interesting direction for the brand.
It’s been so successful. It’s been amazing. I always think: we are 98% women, you’re platforming menswear into a women’s brand. A lot of women will buy for their partners, or at least have an input in what they’re wearing. Brilliant, they’re my best marketing tool. It’s been fantastic, we’re seeing a lot of couples here doing the matchy-matchy!
As the founder, CEO and originator, you are the embodiment of the brand. I do wonder, looking from season to season and collection to collection, how you keep it fresh and avoid short-term trends.
You’ve got to be really careful of chasing a trend, I think. What we’re trying to create is a brand, a lifestyle, something with longevity. To do that, you need the cemented foundation, that DNA that you really understand very clearly.
Of course, I’m absorbing all the time. That’s who I am. But you have to absorb and cherry-pick what’s right for what you’re doing. If you try to be Balenciaga over here and Prada over there, it becomes a muddle, the customer becomes insecure and they don’t know who you are. Actually, I think why we’ve been so successful is because women understand the product and it’s easy for them to put together. We always have a good pair of jeans. We always have the black roll neck.
Staples.
Yeah, and actually we also have the new item, the “Oh, yeah, I can weave that into my wardrobe.” It’s not just one-dimensional. Most women can’t afford or don’t want to have a wardrobe that is only applicable for the next two months before going out of fashion again. Most women want beautifully curated products that stand the test of time.
This is what’s been so lovely about opening the Atelier side – what I’m wearing today is a bespoke piece, made with a fabric that’s limited edition. There are a lot of women, whether it be high-profile clients, big clients here, CEOs or female bosses, who want something bespoke. So we’re able to offer a thousand different swatches, one-on-one appointment services with everything made to measure. It’s really special, and we’re doing that for Men’s Wear and Women’s Wear. It’s something I have wanted to do for a long time, but we’re currently building this 70,000-square-foot empire of an office and we’re at 6,000 square feet at the minute… and we’re about a year late. Once the office is built, we will have 7,000 square feet of beautiful apartment space for a bespoke atelier. It’s a real experience: retail therapy at its finest!
British fashion isn’t having a particularly good time of it at the minute. The headlines are negative, luxury fashion, a lot of them are down, a lot of the British fashion houses are struggling. We are not. You know, are we going to be the next Burberry? I hope so. So many brands are struggling and clutching at straws trying to reinvent themselves. I just think be proud of who you are. I would like to think we are going to be the next up-and-coming luxury British brand. We’re profitable. We’re growing.
Let’s talk about that growth.
So we’re a profitable, growing British business, and it’s important to remember that we’re not just growing turnover, we’re growing profit, and we need to start celebrating and championing businesses that are actually successful and profitable. I’ve had no investment, I’ve got no business partners. I own 100 percent of the business, and I started from a market stand.
I think to become a really successful entrepreneur, you have to maintain that hunger that you had at the very beginning. In exactly the same way, if not more so. It’s all about growth, hunting down the next challenge, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. You know, if you’re not nervous, you’re not moving fast enough.
So, how do we move from off-the-rack to a bespoke offering? Presumably, it comes down to consumer requests or needs?
We have a lot of consumers that are at the point where they have everything in the range, and they want something that’s different. Or they’re in an environment like this, where they don’t want to bump into someone in the same outfit. That’s quite common. I want to deliver that service for premium customers looking to have a unique piece created.
We have that customer, and I think there’s probably a thousand options that you can choose from: different trims, different lining, different pocket squares, different buttons. That’s quite normal for men’s tailoring, actually, they’re used to that. Whereas for women, we’re not accustomed to bespoke clothing like that, and I love providing this level of service.
There are plenty of people who balance family life and work life. But you have a rapidly evolving empire and a husband whose empire is equally rapidly evolving. How are you managing that day-to-day?
I think you have to be really, really disciplined about what the priorities are for the day. So today, my priority is to get all of my work done, then leave at 2:30 so I can do the school run.
You’re leaving today?
Yeah. That’s a real priority for me. Because if I’m organised, I can get all of what I need to do completed today, then I can pick my daughter up from school, which would mean a huge amount to her. Then I can have meetings when I get back. So, you know, what are the priorities? That is a priority. And same for Julian. He took her to school this morning. You know, the kids are an absolute priority. And, you know, I could stay here all day. But if you’re organised, you can get everything you need done.
We want to show our children that working hard is fulfilling and exciting. You know, money without fulfillment or understanding as to how it’s made can be really dangerous, can be really negative. Knowing how hard it is to make £10 into £20, what money means and how hard you’ve got to work is such an important lesson.
We’re both very hands-on and when we’re at home, that’s the priority. Julian’s very disciplined like that as well. When he gets home at five, there’s no more work. That’s it until he’s up in the morning. He’s not doing emails at nine. He says, “That’s why you get a Nokia, if it’s important, well, you’ll ring me”. It’s another important lesson in life. Chop out the noise. Chop out the decisions you don’t have to make.
I imagine when you were growing and building the business there were key advisors that you were working with in the early stages?
I think my parents were a great sounding board, as they’d both run their own businesses. They were really supportive and very measured.
I don’t have a business partner, and that can be lonely because it’s all on you and everyone’s looking to you. What’s the next idea? What’s the plan? Sometimes you’re tired and you don’t feel like it. You’re not a machine and not every day is perfect. I put it into thirds: a third great, a third shit, a third okay. If it goes out of that balance, I’ve got to address it. It’s hard, but you’ve got to say some of it is magic, and there’s no doubt it’s addictive. I mean, it’s like a drug, isn’t it?
Any chance of Holland Cooper opening in a new territory or setting up pop-ups in snowier climbs?
I don’t want to travel. The growth I’m getting from an e-commerce perspective is so massive that I don’t need to; people are traveling from all over the world to come to the store. Australia, Japan, America, Canada. I said to one lady, “I’m sorry, we’re shut. Have you come far?”
“Yeah, I’ve come from Australia.”
Oh, right. We’re obviously going to open!
You have been supporting or sponsoring the Cheltenham Festival for many years. What’s that collaboration like?
I think it’s become a very symbiotic relationship. My first time working at Cheltenham was 15 years ago. It just became an obvious partnership and the next step was to say okay, let’s formally cement this relationship. Because it’s local to us as well, where we live, where the brand is, where our hotels are – it’s our hometown.
What’s the product of the season for you at the moment?
Our signature product would be the Long Trench Coat. It is iconic for us and you’ve only got to look around here and see so many of them. It still has a really special place in my heart – that coat is just the gift that keeps on giving.
In an era where many British fashion houses grapple with uncertainty, Jade Holland Cooper stands as a calmly executed example of resilience and innovation. Her eponymous brand, Holland Cooper, has not only weathered the industry’s storms but has arguably flourished. This success is arguably a testament to Jade’s acute business acumen and commitment to timeless design. Speaking with Jade reveals a leader whose warmth and passion are as evident as her strategic prowess. She’s there ensuring that her hands-on approach and genuine enthusiasm infuse every aspect of the brand. As Holland Cooper marks its 15th anniversary, it stands as an exemplar of sustainable growth and enduring style in the fashion landscape.
