What puts an interiors retailer in the bracket of  ‘high end high street’?

Whether a brand is classified as high-end high street depends on many factors including; the quality of the materials used, the quality of the designs, how the products are made, the marketing, the feel of the shop and the price range.  

For example, Toast, is an upscale store that sells women and men’s clothes as well as home and household products. They pride themselves on their simple classic designs and ethical choice of fabrics and raw materials that are of a high quality and so have a longer life span. They use organic cotton and animal products that are a by-product of the meat industry, ensuring they are being environmentally friendly and using ethically raised animal products.

They try to produce products that have a story behind them, meaning they have not been mass produced but instead hand crafted or made by a small co operative business This ensures that the money goes straight into the community of workers. 

Anthropologie is another business that prides itself on the fact that they use high quality fabrics and raw materials that are ethically produced and environmentally friendly when possible, for example recycled glass is used for their ‘rain streaked motives’. They also produce hand made products when possible, such as their hand stained ink paintings and drawings.

Their designs have a very different feel to Toast, which were simple and sophisticated with clean lines and often muted colors. However anthroplpogie emulate a free spirited, bohemian style, which often involves bold and brightly colored patterns, and vibrant colors. Both of these are of a high quality and depict a certain sense of style that is emulated throughout the whole brand.

Anthropologie depict its bohemian style not just within its products designs but also throughout the shop design and window displays. They employ a team of artists and designers who work solely on designing the window displays, which often involve a product or garment and then evolve from there using anything from coffee filters to hundreds of aligned clothes pegs. They try to use everyday items, which would be found in most homes.

From looking into ‘what makes an interiors store ‘high end high street’ I have concluded where a store is placed in the market not only depends on the quality of the materials and designs, how the products are made, the marketing and the price range, but also the creation of an individual style and sticking to it throughout. This helps create a continuity that the low-end high street just can’t emulate.