Early Thursday morning a popped down to the Aubin & Wills store on King Street, Manchester after receiving an email a couple of weeks ago inviting me. I didn't know much about the brand but they said I was free to nosey around the store and get familiar. They also offered me a gift card to spend at my will. King Street is one of the nicest looking areas in the city centre it's a great location for a new store. They share the street with the likes of Hermes, Flannels, Whistles and Jaegar to name a few, so you can imagine it's quite the fancy pants area.
The store itself is really lovely, they occupy quite a small space but make good use of what they have. Everywhere you look there's something to keep you interested, these prints set the tone for the brand as you hike up to the menswear department.
The store had a modern feel to it, mixing dark wooden fixtures with a slight industrial feel. I really liked it actually, everything was well laid out with plenty of room to swing a few cats. The desk/study area above was rather ace.
The cheese man himself Alex James appears in their current campaign, which sort of gives you the feel of who they are aiming at. It's very British with a nice slice of humor thrown in. The image above reminded me of an old David Hockey photograph.
Cool idea for a display, I do wish they were in order though!
Foxes are key to their branding and appear all over the store and on their clothes.
Hand-printed tees were a nice touch, I was pretty taken by the tache chap.
And here's some pieces that stood out for me;
Racing green & white breton top with wooden buttons
Chambray 1-pocket shirt with subtle floral pattern.
Orange & navy pocket t shirt. This featured tons of little details and was in brushed cotton.
The foxy guy even gets in on the jumpers, this is one of their best sellers.
This bright yellow lightweight parka was hard to miss and was definitely a stand out piece, perfect fitting for Manchester's gloomy reputation. Today was a warm day and I instantly regretted wearing a wool pea coat as soon as I left the house. I got in the jacket mood by trying the parka on.
The yellow lightweight park with the block colour jumper was a good combo. I did try a whole bunch of other stuff on too(the fitting room had air conditioning, is that rare?), the staff were really genuine and chatty throughout. In the end I took home the white/navy block colour jumper and the orange/navy striped t shirt. When I was in London I popped by the Shoreditch store and picked up a Made in England green leather key fob too. I really enjoyed this visit and hopefully I can cover some more Northern based stores over the next few months.
To find out more about Aubin & Wills click the link or visit the store at 19 King Street, Manchester M2 6AW.
