About Us

Fashion Is Our Business

Founded in 1972 by Stephen Marks, French Connection set out to create well-designed fashionable clothing that appealed to a broad market.

French Connection now offers a fashion-forward clothing range with a quirky spin on design, priding itself on quality and affordable prices.

Having established a strong core clothing business, through unique design and a true sense of style the company has, over recent years expanded its portfolio into exciting new areas including men's and women's toiletries, sunglasses and opticals, watches and shoes. Driven by innovation and change, the brands strength lies in balancing new and exciting ideas with the basic promise of quality and affordability, established when the company was founded. Throughout this expansion and diversification the principles have remained the same; design-led products presented in a unique and innovative way.

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The Stores

Stores across the globe are designed to be a true extension of the brand whilst being relevant to their local surrounding, so all elements including staff and store design work together to create a shopping environment which is all part of the French Connection experience.

Retaining the clean, minimalist simple signature look that French Connection has made its own, the stores provide an environment where the product takes centre stage. Advertising forms an integral part of the environmental concept in store and large graphics form the backdrop for many of the fittings and fixtures.

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Head turning Windows

The French Connection windows are crucial to the branding of our product; they reflect our pioneering imaginative design and irreverent attitude. The windows reflect all that's best about the brand, its attitude and style whilst acting as a showcase for the collection.

Throughout the season windows work in conjunction with the ever evolving fashion collections and the advertising campaign, interpreting the themes into award winning window displays. These themes are implemented globally across the brand so you will see a consistent brand message from London to New York to Sydney.

Past campaigns have included building a fully functioning radio station into the windows of our London Regent Street store from which FCUK FM was broadcast, models surfing, camper vans rocking and denim clad Santas frolicking. Whether French Connection or FCUK, our windows get noticed.

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Brand Identity

We have developed a brand identity, which is sexy, stylish and has attitude. FCUK is a short, sharp name to stand for French Connection United Kingdom and was being used on faxes between our offices in the UK and Hong Kong (FCHK) before being introduced across the company as a highly recognisable name and acronym to stand alongside the French Connection logo.

A simple advertising campaign launched FCUK onto the British High Street in the spring of '97 and has since evolved to personify the casualwear offering of the French Connection brand. A controversial ad campaign featuring the simple line 'fcuk fashion' hit the headlines and when 'fcuk advertising' followed hot on its heels the attitude of the brand was established.

The whole business is born of a desire to be original, distinctive and accessible. Whether fcuk has shocked or amused, it certainly made you think. Bold, witty and intelligent, it demonstrates how French Connection has given personality to its brand, a rare achievement on today's crowded high street. Since then fcuk has become interchangeable with French Connection as the brand name and identity.

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Brand Marketing Communications

To stand out from the crowd both the advertising creative and media choices are increasingly important.

Powerful brand building advertising combines strong, innovative creative with a mix of conventional media, such as fashion magazines and billboards with high impact non-conventional media such as moving projections, radio stations and more recently wrapping outdoor billboards with gaffer tape and having light motion banners.

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Brand Advertising

Our first FCUK campaign was launched in Spring/Summer 1997 with the 'fcuk fashion' strap line.

Our campaigns have given the brand great exposure causing debate and discussion in the press. The adverts always aim to disrupt the normal formula of fashion advertising and leave the interpretation up to the individual. We never fail to keep the brand exciting and original, pushing boundaries and always making a statement.

The key to French Connections success continues to be the combination of exceptional clothes at the forefront of design, affordable prices, clever merchandising and sound business practice.

With the evolution of the brand continuing we aim to create a real fashion destination by talking to the opinion formers with real fashion authority. Our advertising will continue to be innovative and creative; however the focus has shifted onto the clothes themselves, to enable us to create a distinctive look which is uniquely French Connection.

Going forward we will present French Connection as a credible and focused fashion brand that speaks through its product. It is a brand that celebrates personal style without the gimmicks.

In the non-stop world of fashion it takes dynamism and intuition to keep moving and we are constantly developing both our product and our market and our vision of the future just keeps on growing.

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