Partners in life and business Jane Forbes and Nigel Pashley run the Frontiers shops on adjacent corners in Edinburgh’s prestigious West End district. Stocking brands exclusively in the city is a big part of their appeal.
Jane Forbes and Nigel Pashley
Premium independent stores Frontiers Woman and Frontiers Man have captured the stylish crowds of Edinburgh. Opposites attract – the stores are on adjacent corners on Stafford Street in the affluent West End, run by business partners Jane Forbes and Nigel Pashley, who have been partners in life for 28 years.
Frontiers Woman paved the way: it dates back to 1990 when Forbes concentrated on designing knitwear, something she has revived for this autumn’s season. Frontiers Man followed in 2016.
The pair have high standards for the brands they stock, as Forbes explains: “I have always had the same ethos for my shop – to sell good-quality, sustainable clothes that are not trend driven. If they are British brands, that’s good. If they are made in the UK, even better. It’s important they are exclusive to us in Edinburgh.”
Brands at the womenswear store include perennial British favourites such as YMC and Folk, newer domestic names Jumper 1234 (from Chiltern Street Studios), Rixo and T-shirt brand Sunray Sportswear, plus design-driven collections from Danish brands Baum und Pferdgarten and Ganni, Rachel Comey from New York and Swedish rainwear specialist Stutterheim.
A strong selection from the Lee heritage range is the only denim on offer.
Footwear, primarily trainer brands Karhu from Finland and Flower Mountain from Italy, makes up about 20% of the undisclosed turnover. There is an attractive mixture of accessories, especially socks and practical bags.
This autumn, after a self-imposed five-year hiatus, Forbes has returned to her first love – designing knitwear – and has had a capsule collection in eight colourways manufactured in Scotland. Under the Forbes label, the merino and cashmere pieces will retail between £145 and £195, and will complement the wholesale brands she offers. They will be exclusive to Frontiers Woman.
Forbes opened her first shop in 1990 with co-designer Ann Williams, under the Frontiers name, selling their own Williams & Forbes knitwear, while also producing collections for names such as Gieves & Hawkes, Hackett and Margaret Howell.
Williams left the business in 1999 and Forbes kept the shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile until 2009, before moving it to its present location.
The imposing buildings on Stafford Street date from around 1830, and the womenswear shop has high, grand ceilings in the Late Georgian style. The interiors consist of two rooms on the ground floor, and two rooms on a lower level.
The entire shop has an attractive and welcoming feel in which the colourful collections are thoughtfully merchandised.
“It wasn’t like this when we took on the lease 13 years ago,” Forbes explains. “We had to do a lot of work to achieve the look we wanted.”
For the past 15 years she has been accompanied by her daughter Kim Buchanan, who is buyer and store manager, on her seasonal trips to London showrooms, Paris trade shows, Scandinavian fashion fairs and New York.
“Kim and I work well together as buyers. We have similar, but not identical tastes, and it’s good to bounce ideas off each other. We do lots of research into collections before we buy. We try and have things exclusively in Edinburgh, but ultimately what makes me back a collection is the immediate reaction I have to it. A new brand has to grab me from the moment I see it, or it’s probably not right for us.”
Mother and daughter give a new collection about three seasons to prove itself. Once established, a brand has to hit 70% sell-through to keep its place.
Frontiers Man followed in 2016 after Pashley ditched a long career as a chartered surveyor specialising in healthcare developments to start selling menswear.
“I should have done it years earlier as I’d always had an interest in clothes,” he says. “Jane and I took nine months to research the market to see what we wanted to do with the men’s shop. The two shops complement each other to a large degree and we do have couples who shop with us both, but each shop has its own attitude. We also define our customers by attitude, not age.”
The shops are run separately but some services are shared, including staff and administration – for example, Mark Forbes, Jane’s son, is online and sales manager. The women’s business produces 60% of total turnover, although menswear is growing.
“We don’t have as much competition in Edinburgh as the womenswear does,” Pashley observes, adding that the smaller men’s shop is more “blokey” – album sleeves of favourite bands are a dominant decorative feature.
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Assisted by shop manager Joe Hall, Pashley buys from an appealing mix of British names such as Universal Works, Oliver Spencer, sportswear brand Admiral, and Kestin, from locally based designer Kestin Hare. Continental collections are from Danish brand Norse Projects; Hartford, Armor Lux and Homecore from France; Swedish brand Nudie; and Edwin, from Japan via Germany. Frontiers is the only UK stockist for US brand Alex Mill.
“We have guys coming over from Glasgow because they cannot get some of the brands we stock there,” says Pashley.
The main footwear offer is from the US’s Red Wing and Italy’s Fracap – what Pashley calls “proper footwear”. Although the stores share a lot of the same brands – YMC, Folk, Lee 101, Sunray Sportswear and Lavenham – footwear is where they differ.
And despite trainers being a main driver in the womenswear store, Pashley does not own a pair of trainers and does not sell them in the menswear shop, explaining “you can buy trainers anywhere”.
Both agree that relationships are important: “There has to be mutual respect between you as the retailer and the supplier you work with, whether a brand or an agent,” says Forbes. “We like brands that support independent retailers, too, but if one lets us down in any way, it only means we have to do a bit more legwork to find a new replacement.”
The shops have separate ecommerce sites, which together account for 20% of sales. Pushing for more online sales is an opportunity and a high priority. The men’s website will be overhauled to include new ways to display products, new feature pages, shopping guides explaining fits and playlists, which customers have enjoyed in store.
The stores will also introduce a loyalty programme, shoppable lookbooks, a womenswear size guide, and an Epos system that will automatically link stores and ecommerce to reduce out-of-stock messaging. The platform automatically changes language and currency, depending on location.
Forbes says: “Selling online has brought a new dimension to the business and many new customers from all over the country, which we are all very thankful for. It’s great, however, to see customers in the shops, enjoying the full experience of what Frontiers offers.”
16B Stafford Street, Edinburgh EH3 7AU
About 1,300 sq ft selling space (ground floor 800 sq ft, basement 500 sq ft)
Founded: 1990. In current location since 2009.
Brands include Baum und Pferdgarten, Folk, Ganni, Jumper 1234, Lavenham, Lee 101, LF Markey, Rachel Comey, Rixo, Stutterheim, Uniform Bridge, YMC. Footwear brands include: ACBC, Flower Mountain, Karhu
18 Stafford Street, Edinburgh EH3 7BD
About 450 sq ft selling space
Brands include Edwin, Folk, Homecore, Lee 101, Norse Projects, Nudie, Oliver Spencer, Sunray Sportswear, Universal Works, YMC. For footwear: Fracap, Red Wing.
Instagram: frontiersman_edinburgh (2.9k followers)
Open: Mon-Fri 10:30am–5:30pm Sat 10am–5.30pm Sun 12pm–4pm
Staff across both shops: six full time, three part time
Owners: Jane Forbes & Nigel Pashley
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