Reiss menswear store and head office by Four IV

“There are millions of designers out there and we had to find the right ones,” comments David Reiss, who heads the menswear chain and supplier. “The synergy worked well, we were on the same wavelength and their experience on projects like Harvey Nichols helped.”

Four IV was brought in to help reposition the Reiss flagship store on London’s King’s Road and revamp the five-storey building including offices, showroom and design studios. The consultancy worked alongside Stuart Lever Partnership, which was already on the project.

Four IV director Gregor Jackson explains the intention was to create “a new look to open it up to a much wider audience while maintaining the existing customer base”. The interior of the store is now “more approachable”, with an etched glass back wall visible from the street with adjustable lighting and stainless steel merchandising units with glass shelves. Other floors have been designed to fit in with the new-look store.

“There was mutual respect and it worked well,” says Jackson. “The only difficulty was getting them to visualise the design drawings. Drawings and perspectives can be difficult to interpret so very often we made card models.”

Reiss says he is “delighted” with project. “The end product is exactly as I wanted it and we didn’t scrimp on anything. This is a new flagship and it’s certainly done the trick.” He adds the consultancy liaised well with the shopfitters.

According to Jackson, clients are looking for something that increases the bottom line. “We can’t give them a written guarantee, but we’re certainly a very influential part of the process.”