Joules townie and country fashion, dressing for the rural idyll

Joules has tapped into a townie dream to produce the ultimate “free range” country wardrobe.
 
By Hilary Alexander, Fashion Director

So much of what makes fashion work depends on a genuine understanding and feel for your market. In this respect, Tom Joule has totally got it totally nailed down. He has tapped into the townie’s dream of the rural idyll and, in just over a decade,turned a rather predictable, equestrian-based label, which relied on the county show circuit, into an aspirational lifestyle family brand.

Today, Joules (he added the ‘s’ after he bought out his father in 1994) stands for a chain of 38 stores around the country and four more by the end of the year, a further four in France and two in Scandinavia, a thriving mail order-etail business which delivers 40% of the sales, and a turnover of £51 million last year.

The label’s high-profile fans include everyone from the TV farmer, Jimmy Doherty, and his girlfriend, Michaela, and Ben and Marina Fogle, to the likes of Elle Macpherson, Helena Bonham Carter, Amanda Holden, Jools Oliver, and Kirsty Allsopp.