Selfridges SS23
Point of View

SS23 SELFRIDGES POINT OF VIEW

INTRODUCING SELFRIDGES CELEBRATES (2D ARTISTRY)

Welcome to 2023, where the celebrations are continuing. As we enter the new year, our focus will continue to prioritise making the everyday extraordinary, manifesting for the next 365 as Selfridges Celebrates. This is our take on how to shop, plan and jubilate in those moments in life that call and demand for joyful celebrations, but it’s also our effort to ensure that life’s little wins feel special and exciting. It’s a response to present times and represents a point of view on how we want to see the next 12 months play out. If we can make it more inspiring for our customers, then we’re going to make that happen.

New Season Starter for 10

Meet an edit of our SS23 highlights bringing a sense of the new in at Selfridges.

Reselfridges & Project Earth

“Following a period of experimentation and exploration, we are excited to move into a new phase of embedding and accelerating. This is particularly evident in the rapid evolution of Reselfridges, our flagship circular initiative which brings together resale, rental, repair, refill and recycle. We are so confident in the opportunity Reselfridges presents that we have made a bold commitment to 45% of our transactions coming from these circular products and services by 2030. The scale of our ambition cannot be underestimated. Our commitment to imagine and create a sustainable future for our customers and teams is real.”

— Andrew Keith, Managing Director.

Reselfridges and Project Earth

Selfridges presents the ultimate guide to Christmas – the setting up, the dressing up, the merry-making and, most importantly, the gift-giving. As our theme is “Season’s Feastings”, we’ll be inspired by the power of food and the rituals around it that bring us together. A culinary fusion of fashion, food and festive fancy across all of our categories.

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Gift guides

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Sleeps until Christmas day

Christmas Gift Guide

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Bigger than last year, our 2022 Christmas Shop is the biggest to date

Christmas

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Christmas decorations to shop, 60% of which are Project Earth labelled as more planet-friendly

Feast

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Project Earth labelled toys available for Christmas

Feast

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seasons feastings themed Christmas windows to discover across London, Manchester & Birmingham stores

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Christmas hampers and gifts to choose from as well as bespoke options available from the Hampers Concierge

Feast

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the weight of our giant panettone, available in the Selfridges Foodhall. All proceeds go to our Christmas charity partner, Centrepoint

press releases

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November is the date Santa arrives across our stores in London, Manchester & Birmingham

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Let's change the way we shop

Project Earth is our evergreen sustainability strategy with bold, ambitious targets to reinvent retail and meet our commitment to a net zero future

“In creating our store of tomorrow we must commit to a fundamental shift in the way that we do business and use the Selfridges platform for change. Our vision is to reinvent retail and create a more sustainable future, and Project Earth and our new targets underpin this.

“We recognise that we need to challenge ourselves to accelerate change and our ambitious circular and materials targets do just that. We don’t have all the answers, but we are committed to finding solutions, through a continued imaginative approach to retail innovation. The scale of our ambitions cannot be underestimated but we are inspired by what lies ahead and how we bring this to life for our customers.”

– Andrew Keith, Selfridges Managing Director

Our Commitments

2030

2030

Materials

Everything  we  build,  buy  and  sell will meet our environmental and ethical standards by 2030

By 2025 the most environmentally impactful materials will come from certified, sustainable sources

2030

Models

45% of transactions will come from circular[1]  products  and  services by 2030

2030

Mindsets

We will build an inclusive retail culture in which our teams, communities and customers put people  and  planet  first in all our decisions by 2030

2040

Net Zero

We will achieve  net  zero  carbon  emissions across the business by 2040

[1] A circular transaction includes at least one resale, rental, refill, repair or recycled product and excludes home, food and restaurants

Highlights

  • Materials
  • Models
  • Mindsets
  • Net Zero

[2] With the exception of Manchester Exchange Square, which is landlord managed.

Better ways to shop

We’re pioneering a host of new and exciting shopping experiences with circularity at their heart to help customers shop more responsibly.

Project Earth
Report

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Press
Release

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Infographic

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AW22 POINT OF VIEW

AW22 POINT OF VIEW

SS22 briefing

SS22 briefing

SELFRIDGES SIGNS THE CLIMATE PLEDGE TO ACCELERATE NET-ZERO CARBON TARGET BY 10 YEARS TO 2040

Today, Selfridges (alongside the wider Selfridges Group) has committed to significantly accelerating its target to achieve net zero carbon across its business to 2040 by signing The Climate Pledge – a commitment co-founded by Amazon and Global Optimism to act on the climate emergency and meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early.

Following over a decade of retail activism, from banning fur in 2005, to signing the Fashion Pact in 2019, to removing plastic-based cosmetic glitter in 2021, Selfridges launched the next phase of its sustainability strategy Project Earth in 2020. With a vision to reinvent retail, through Project Earth Selfridges pledges to change the way we shop and the way it does business, underpinned by Science-Based Targets (scopes 1, 2 and 3) and a commitment to net-zero carbon.  

Through Project Earth, Selfridges is taking bold action on the climate emergency across three themes; ensuring the most environmentally impactful materials it uses come from certified, sustainable sources by 2025, pioneering new circular business models and experiences across resale, rental, refill, and repair, and using its platform to engage and inspire the mindsets of its partners, customers and teams.

Andrew Keith, Managing Director of Selfridges, said: “Selfridges exists to imagine and create a sustainable future for our customers. This strong sense of purpose is at the heart of everything we do and over the last 16 years, we have taken ground-breaking steps to reinvent retail. However, we know that we need to change the way we shop and the way we do business to urgently address the climate emergency. By coming together with Amazon, Global Optimism and the signatories of the Climate Pledge, we believe we can co-create meaningful change and unite behind positive, solution-led environmentalism.”

Christiana Figueres, Founding Partner of Global Optimism, commented: “The recent report released by the IPCC is the starkest warning yet that the systems supporting human life are reaching tipping points and that the window of time to act decisively is narrowing,” said Christiana Figueres, the UN’s former climate chief and now founding partner of Global Optimism. “This wake up call from science must be faced with courage and conviction. In this light, it’s encouraging that 86 more companies – some of the largest household names in the world – are now joining The Climate Pledge, committing to accelerate their actions to tackle climate change in a timely fashion, and playing their part in building a low-carbon economy. I look forward to the fruits of the leadership we will see from this collective of 200 signatories that are now part of The Climate Pledge.”

Last month, Selfridges marked the first anniversary of Project Earth by publishing a Progress Update that sets out its highlights and hurdles throughout the last 12 months. In early 2022, Selfridges will publish its first full Sustainability Report.

For more information on Project Earth, please visit: www.selfridges.com/GB/en/features/project-earth/commitments/

Notes to Editors:

As a signatory of the Climate Pledge, Selfridges will:

  • Measure and report greenhouse gas emissions on a regular basis.
  • Implement decarbonization strategies in line with the Paris Agreement through real business change and innovations, including efficiency improvements, renewable energy, materials reductions, and other carbon emission elimination strategies.
  • Take actions to neutralize any remaining emissions with additional, quantifiable, real, permanent, and socially beneficial offsets to achieve net zero annual carbon emissions by 2040.

About Selfridges’ carbon reduction targets

Selfridges set Science Based Targets (scopes 1,2 and 3) in 2020, which have been validated by the Science Based Targets Initiative[1]. Selfridges is committed to achieving net-zero carbon across its business by 2040.

Selfridges’ stores are powered by 100% green energy (electricity and gas) and it is focussing on driving down waste and energy consumption year on year.

Selfridges has retained the Carbon Trust triple standard for carbon, water and waste since 2014.

[1] We will reduce our greenhouse gas emissions from our stores and offices by 64% (from a 2018/19 baseline) by 2030. This target has been approved by the Science-Based Targets Initiative as consistent with what the latest climate science has told us is needed to prevent the most damaging effects of climate change (to keep warming to 1.5°c.).

We also commit to reducing absolute scope 3 GHG emissions from purchased goods and services 30% by 2030 from a 2018 base year, and that 10% of our suppliers by emissions covering logistics and capital goods will have science-based targets by 2024.

Selfridges launches Summer Awakening – its most earth conscious window displays ever

Selfridges launches its new window displays: Summer Awakening, inspired by the almighty power of the sun, and the next chapter of its year-long Good Nature creative theme. The project, staged in full across the London store’s 27 large-scale windows and adapted for the windows in Selfridges’ stores in Birmingham and Manchester, reminds onlookers that the sun can be a power for good, sharing a sense of hope, wonder and escapism.

Summer Awakening is Selfridges most-earth conscious display ever, created in large parts from recycled materials, repurposed props from previous schemes, eco-friendly paints, furnishings, arts supplies, and mostly recyclable materials. The range of planet-conscious materials is wide – from reclaimed bamboo, timber and glass; jute, rush, willow, and deadstock fabric. The display also features – for the first time on such a scale in such a creative framework – a wall installation in a polystyrene alternative, made entirely from Mycelium, more commonly known as mushroom protein.

Each window represents a typical and often joyful simple summery scene: a picnic, the summer sun rising on a beach, a day at the Lido, a field of sunflowers or an afternoon barbeque. Selfridges has commissioned bespoke art installations and objects by a line-up of creative talents, including art director and set designer Ibby Njoya, designer and weaver Anne Marie O’Sullivan, designer and maker James Shaw, and artist-maker Amy Bairstow, amongst others.

At the London store, Summer Awakening is completed by a special commission by architecture and design practice, Sam Jacobs Studio, across three windows on Orchard Street, featuring sculptures inspired by summer rituals.

Summer Awakening embodies Selfridges’ Project Earth sustainability commitments. Launched nearly a year ago, Project Earth is a five-year transformational sustainability initiative through which Selfridges pledges to change the way we shop by 2025. One of Project Earth’s three major commitments focuses on ensuring that the most environmentally friendly materials used throughout the business come from certified, sustainable sources by 2025.

Selfridges’ year-long theme, Good Nature, launched in January and is designed as a celebration of pleasure in nature, conceived with optimism for a future of restauration and growth, offering visitors physical and digital experiences responding to the natural world.

Selfridges Creative Director, Hannah Emslie comments: “Our new window displays celebrate the sun’s almighty power for good. We are proud to say that it is the most earth conscious display we’ve ever created, in line with our Project Earth commitments. We’re also excited about sharing new works from talented British creatives produced with mainly natural materials. We hope visitors to our stores in London, Manchester and Birmingham will find plenty to make their worlds’ brighter – even when the sun’s not shining!”

JULY HOME TRENDS

Selfridges introduces two new brands, Schneid Studio ceramics and Elephant & Bamboo home fragrance. For summer, Selfridges edit of outdoor homeware is perfect for creating the Inside Out trend adding bohemian, beachy vibes to any balcony or garden. Whilst fringe lighting and home accessories in vivid pink and orange lay the foundations for a chic 70’s pad.

AW21 briefing

AW21 briefing

Selfridges transforms façade of iconic Birmingham store – with monumental public art commission by Osman Yousefzada

Today (Monday 26 July), Selfridges has officially unveiled a new monumental public art commission by multi-disciplinary artist Osman Yousefzada at its Birmingham store. The iconic building, famous for its bulbous blue shape and large silver disks is now covered by the world’s largest canvas showcasing Osman Yousefzada’s black and pink patterned design.

This new art installation, co-commissioned with Ikon, Birmingham, entitled Infinity Pattern 1, is dramatically changing the Birmingham skyline as it stretches over 10,000 sq. meters (nearly 50 meters in height and 250 metres in length and weighing 5 tons).

A radical new landmark for the city, Infinity Pattern 1 addresses the issues of race, labour and migration, which have shaped Birmingham’s past and present, but also carries a deep sense of optimism, connectivity and hope. For Osman, who is Birmingham-born, and the son of Pakistani-Afghan migrants, the work contains some autobiographical elements, but at its core it stages the concept of a world without borders, whether physical or imaginary, represented by the endlessly tessellating pattern. This major public artwork – part of Selfridges long-established commitment to supporting creativity in the cities its stores call home – will remain in its completed state until the end of the year. It will be dismantled progressively next year whilst major renovation work to the store, started last winter, come to an end just ahead of the Commonwealth Games. Osman’s installation was chosen following an international competition led by Ikon, Birmingham, the highly esteemed art gallery.

The commission is complemented by an in-store art exhibition, shop and art trail (also opening on 26th July) all co-designed and co-curated with Ikon, as part of an ongoing creative relationship between the gallery and the store. The art exhibition and trail will expand the conversation around some of the topics raised by Infinity Pattern 1, through further new works by Osman, as well as pieces by Birmingham artists Hira Butt, Farwa Moledina and Maryam Wahid, to discover within Selfridges Birmingham store.

Osman’s additional output was developed through a recent residency at Birmingham’s School of Art in Fine Art Printmaking and Sculpture. The new pieces are anchored by a series of mixed-media works on paper, challenge  the stereotypes of ‘The Model Migrant’ and the perception of the role of Brown Bodies in the Western world.

The exhibition shop showcases an exclusive collection including tote bags, blankets and vegan leather accessories all featuring the distinctive Infinity Pattern 1 design, alongside a curated selection of products celebrating the city of Birmingham.

Osman Yousefzada said: “The work is entrenched in autoethnographic elements of migration, community formation and how they happen, interact and settle. The work reflects my personal story and more widely my ethnic history and some of the symbolisms inherent to my culture.”

Selfridges Creative Director, Hannah Emslie said: “Selfridges is celebrating the communities of Birmingham through a unique art commission that represents both optimism and transformation. This new work by Osman Yousefzada is uplifting but also meaningful and deeply connected to the fabric and culture of the city. By changing the skyline – at a time when the city itself is changing – we hope to make the world brighter through creative expression, and the people of Birmingham even prouder of their iconic city.”

Jonathan Watkins, Ikon Director said: “After leading the search for an artist to work with Selfridges it’s exciting to see the transformation of Birmingham’s skyline thanks to Osman Yousefzada’s “Infinity Pattern” enveloping this iconic building with extraordinary visual impact. The work smartly conveys his ongoing preoccupation with the nature of cultural identity, a basic human need for belonging and the experience of migration, and these themes will be developed further through an exciting programme of events taking place instore as part of Ikon’s Migrant Festival in August. It couldn’t be more right for this city.”

For further information please visit selfridges.com/osman

ENDS

Editor’s Notes

Further notes on Infinity Pattern 1

The concept of Infinity Pattern 1 sprung from ‘Her Dreams Are Bigger’, a film Osman made in 2019, in which Bangladeshi garment makers imagine the lives of the women wearing the clothes they make. In the film, one of the garment makers says: “Everyone holds dreams they can afford (…) I have very little money, so my dreams are small”.

Osman Yousefzada said: “The structural infinity built within the design of this installation is a direct and contrasting response to the garment factory worker’s statement of the limitation within their life’s horizon. Instead I’m proposing this antidote that conjures up an endless connectivity, new possibilities, countless new journeys.”

Osman Yousefzada

Osman Yousefzada is London-based, Birmingham-born multidisciplinary artist, whose practice has expanded since launching his eponymous label in 2008 revolving around modes of storytelling, merging autobiography with fiction and ritual. His work is concerned with the representation and rupture of the migrational experience and makes reference to socio-political issues of today. These themes are explored through moving image, installations, text works, sculpture, and garment making along with performance.

Ikon

Ikon is an internationally acclaimed art gallery situated in central Birmingham. Housed in a magnificent Victorian school building, it is an educational charity and works to encourage public engagement with contemporary art through exhibiting new work in a context of debate and participation. It offers free entry to all. Ikon was commissioned by Selfridges to launch an international competition to find the artist who would design the artwork to cover the Birmingham store. Ikon also presented Osman’s first solo exhibition, Being Somewhere Else, in 2018.

Selfridges and the arts

Selfridges has had a long-standing commitment to supporting the arts since its first store opened in 1909 to the most creative window scheme London had ever seen – an homage to works by French painters Fragonard and Watteau. In the past 15 years alone, Selfridges has given its patronage to an ever-increasing number of initiatives focusing on emerging artists in particular; and supporting and engaging with the creative communities in the cities its stores call home in London, Birmingham and Manchester. Selfridges has on-going relationships with IKON, The Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Frieze, The Whitworth, Manchester International Festival and Bold Tendencies. It has commissioned site-specific work to or has exhibited work by artists as diverse as Yayoi Kusama, Fernando Botero, Tracey Emin, Marc Quinn, Sam Taylor Wood, Spencer Tunick, Banksy, Brian Eno, Conrad Shawcross, David LaChapelle and Joana Vasconcelos, Matthew Darbyshire, Yinka Ilori, Jonathan Scofield among many others.

Selfridges Birmingham Renovation

Selfridges in Birmingham’s Bullring is undergoing major renovation work expected to last until summer 2022 whilst the store remains open throughout and trade as normal. The renovation work is being carried out by Hammerson, who owns and manages Bullring & Grand Central and will see the 15,000 silver disks removed and stored, while the building’s facade is replaced alongside installing a new layer of insulation. Once this has taken place, the building will be re-painted in the original eye-catching Yves Klein Blue before the disks are re-attached. The building’s design was created by architects Future Systems and was ground-breaking. Since its original construction, there have been major advances both in construction and building standards as well as insulation. The renovation works and insulation upgrade will deliver a 50% improvement in U-Values (the rate of transfer of heat through a building), making the building more energy efficient to run whilst improving its carbon footprint. This is consistent with Hammerson’s Net Positive strategy.