As a founding member of ECCIA – the European Cultural and Creative Industries Alliance – Walpole’s work reaches far beyond British shores. Composed of seven European member organisations in Italy, France, Spain, Sweden, Portugal, Germany and, of course, the UK, ECCIA's members join forces to represent the luxury sector’s shared values in Brussels at the European Commission. Our latest interview series introduces you to the CEO of each ECCIA member and brings you the key details that every high-end brand should know about the luxury sector in the country they represent.
For our final instalment in the series, we take you inside the Walpole Townhouse in London's Chelsea to speak about the British luxury sector with our CEO Helen Brocklebank...
Walpole: Can you tell us about your association?
Helen Brocklebank: Walpole’s mission is to help make the UK the very best place in the world to grow a high-end brand by protecting, promoting and developing the business of British luxury, a sector worth £48 billion to the UK economy and which contributes 2.4% of GDP.
Founded in 1992, Walpole is the only body in the UK that represents the interests of luxury brands. Our work broadly falls into three key areas; Representation - as the collective voice of British luxury, we represent our members' interests in government both in the UK and in the EU and in the media; Knowledge and Insight - we help grow the authority and reputation of the sector with the reports we produce each year, with large scale thought-leadership events like our annual Luxury Summit, and with the webinars and seminars we host for our members; and Community - we develop and nurture a committed, participative body of members through our events, content, and by creating a culture where members want to collaborate and cooperate on common issues and interests.
How many members are there in your organisation, and what are the requirements of membership?
More than 250 of the finest brands in Britain are Walpole members, all of which share a common customer. Our members represent 11 sector verticals, from luxury automotive and personal luxury goods to hospitality and services and wines and spirits.
To be a Walpole member you should be a well-established British luxury brand turning over a minimum of £5m annually, and have an international reputation, but you need not be British owned. We also have a small number of international luxury brand members, not least because, post-Brexit, our work to protect the interests of all luxury businesses operating in the UK has become even more crucial.
You should be outstanding in your own particular field and exemplify the highest standards in terms of quality, style, design, craftsmanship, creativity, service, innovation and sustainability. You should also endorse Walpole’s purpose, share the same objectives and actively participate in pursuing Walpole’s aims on behalf of the luxury sector. Importantly, you should be able to demonstrate you’re taking action to prioritise sustainability within your business and sign up to our three sustainability commitments, as outlined in our British Luxury Sustainability Manifesto.
What are the qualities and characteristics of your country’s luxury sector that make it unique in the world?
The British luxury sector is one of the broadest and most diverse of all luxury sectors, with strengths in a very wide range of industries. We don’t have any large-scale luxury conglomerates in the UK, though we do have extremely significant global players - Burberry and William Grant, for example. We have a great number of privately owned, often family-operated businesses with global reputations - Johnstons of Elgin, The Londoner (Edwardian Group), Boodles, and Manolo Blahnik, amongst many others. It’s an entrepreneurial and creative sector with many of the founders still involved in their brands, and it always has a very healthy pipeline of new luxury players that Walpole supports through our flagship development programme, Brands of Tomorrow.
British luxury is a global calling card for Britain - individually Walpole member brands are creative beacons of exceptional quality and collectively they take the appeal of the UK to every corner of the world. The UK is rightly famous for its heritage and history - the royal family are great ambassadors - and for its exceptional creative industries - think of the global dominance of British film, TV, and music. I often think of British luxury as the band merchandise of the massive popularity of British culture worldwide.
What would you say the primary talking point is amongst the luxury sector in your country right now?
Sustainability is an ongoing discussion amongst luxury brands. There’s no luxury without a clean conscience and embracing the highest standards when it comes to both people and planet is essential, but not without its challenges and complexities. AI is also a big topic, simultaneously exciting and concerning. Campaigning to reinstate tax-free shopping is still a priority and we won’t stop talking about it until the government acts to reverse this brake on prosperity.
What is the biggest challenge to the growth of the luxury industry in your country, both domestically and internationally?
Globally luxury grew around 20% last year, and the desire for the best products and experiences from a discerning customer continues to grow. All the luxury leaders I talk to are optimistic about the demand for luxury, but will also admit that everyone is operating in a complex landscape with increases in the price of energy, raw materials, supply chain issues, labour shortages and so on creating margin pressure. It requires a lot from luxury’s CEOs and I’m always in awe of their ability to constantly deliver the exceptional for their brands.
What are the calendar highlights of that your company organises throughout the year?
I am always super excited about our annual flagship events, the British Luxury Summit, which will take place at the Londoner on 29th April 2024 (put it in your diary!) and the British Luxury Awards, celebrating the best of the best, hosted at The Dorchester on 20th November this year.
What has been the proudest moment for you in your tenure as CEO?
It is a massive privilege to be 'cheerleader in chief' for Britain’s finest brands, and every time I visit a Walpole member - I was at Edward Green in Northampton and at Gusbourne in Kent last week, for example - I am so proud to play a part in shining a light on the quality, craftsmanship and skills of the people who work in British luxury.
If I had to pick one moment, it would be the launch of the British Luxury Sustainability Manifesto in January 2020. Developed with McKinsey & Company, this document created a sustainability framework that could encompass all 11 sector verticals in UK luxury and it's constantly encouraging to see the progress made by Walpole member brands in this area.
Which person in your country’s luxury sector inspires you?
Walpole is very lucky to have Michael Ward, Harrods’ Managing Director, as its Chairman. I have an hour with him every other week and I learn so much from his approach to continually pushing the boundaries of high-end experience at Harrods. It’s like an MBA in luxury.
Why is an organisation like ECCIA important?
As my fellow ECCIA members have said in this interview series, ECCIA plays a fundamental role in advocating at EU level for the very specific needs of Europe’s high-end companies and to protect its very specific business model.
Luxury is a European phenomenon, and by that I include non-EU countries too (not just the UK – Switzerland is also a very significant luxury producer). The members of ECCIA work extremely hard to ensure that EU legislation will positively support rather than negatively impact an industry which is such a big contributor to the international appeal of Europe as a continent.
Post-Brexit, Walpole’s seat at the table is even more important in that we have to protect the needs of UK brands operating within the EU and we are also committed to making sure that we protect the needs of the 600 brands represented by ECCIA in Westminster too. A good example of this is Selective Distribution legislation (the Vertical Block Exemption Regime) a central pillar of the luxury goods business model and refers to the carefully selected and managed network of partners and distributors through which brands are able to distribute their products to maintain and enhance the luxury retail experience for the customer and, importantly, preserve the aura of luxury. ECCIA worked to protect this at EU level over many years, and after our exit, Walpole successfully campaigned to ensure the protection went into UK legislation too.
> Find out more about all the member organisations within ECCIA and its work here
> For more information on Walpole's international work and ECCIA, please contact Charlotte Keesing on [email protected]
