Floral touches for new Jigsaw range

Upmarket clothing brand Jigsaw is launching a major assault on the high street with an ‘affordable’ women’s retail brand, Kew, due to launch in September in 15 stores.

It is understood up to 100 Kew stores are planned nationwide. Caulder Moore is designing interiors, with branding and packaging by Sea Design. Toffeeapple is creating its on-line retail site, which also goes live in September.

The brand is aimed at ‘women who aspire to Jigsaw, but want something a bit more affordable’, says a Jigsaw spokeswoman. The clothes will be ‘quirky, clean and contemporary’ with a focus on separates. According to a source close to the project Kew will be positioned between ‘French Connection and Zara’.

Interiors will reflect the value-driven nature of Kew, with ‘more uniform’ stores than Jigsaw, the spokeswoman says.

Caulder Moore is turning to lofts for inspiration, seeking to create a functional ‘studio feel’ with timber floors and second-hand furniture. It is introducing a ceiling designed to appear higher than it is through concealed lighting.

‘We wanted to create the illusion of a working studio space, but on the high street,’ says Caulder Moore lead designer Penelope Ward, who is working with creative director Ian Caulder on the project.

The marque, by Sea, is a hand-scripted identity, says Sea director John Simpson. The group commissioned photographer Richard Learoyd to shoot images of flowers at London’s Kew Gardens, the inspiration for the brand and home to Jigsaw’s headquarters.

‘The flowers will be rotated seasonally with the clothes, and applied to bags, swing tags, labels and in-store print material,’ says Simpson. Sea is also designing store signage from etched metal.