Wait, you actually like Superdry? Surely not…
Yes, stop the press! Somebody out there likes the big orange fashion brand that bases its designs on simply slapping the biggest, boldest and brightest logo on a t-shirt or hoodie and calling this ‘trendy’.
That person is me. I’m a little embarrassed to say this.
The vast majority of people who know me know I work for Superdry. Hardly any will know that I actually (love is too far) like the brand. As a Superdry employee for 5 years at the Bicester Village store, I have witnessed the changing fortunes of this instantly recognisable brand (not solely because of the seemingly deep love of orange). I have watched it soar in value and popularity midway through the decade. But I have also witnessed its current decline and sluggish sales performance over the past year. A day does not go by where I’m not wearing something Superdry, be it a plain orange label t-shirt with the teeniest tiniest (in Superdry terms) logo or my bright orange hoodie, which I adore. But what is the one ‘comment’ I receive from my friends when walking past the local Canterbury store?
‘God Tom, why do you still work for that dead brand? No one wears that shite anymore’
The sad thing is, it’s true. Gone are days when the school coat of choice was the Windcheater and school bag of choice (apart from those God-awful tiny Nike ‘just do it bags’ where the only thing you could squeeze into them was a pencil) was the Montana bag. Young people simply don’t want to wear Superdry anymore, not because they’ve grown out of it, but because now it’s seen as uncool. Or as my friends love to remind me, ‘dead’. Now most of the customers flooding through my store doors (and in Bicester Village, they really do flood in) are young-to-middle-age adults, because to them Superdry is still a ‘trendy’ brand.
No one of my age remembers the days when David Beckham (yes, that David Beckham) wore a Superdry leather jacket and t-shirt that gained the brand the early traction it needed to gain mass popularity. No one really remembers Idris Elba’s exclusive range of Superdry clothing. Very rarely are you going to see a celebrity now wearing Superdry. This is a shame; apart from the glaringly obvious — I’m looking at you, orange t-shirt with the black logo in the picture above — a lot of the product is ‘whisper it’ quite nice and relatively understated.
Now I’m not saying I love the brand because I work there; I’m not being held at gunpoint or off the edge of a cliff being forced to say this. Because one of the best things about Superdry, even though so far I’ve highlighted the negatives of the brand, is it has stayed true to its core values. Quality for a good price is the key one; this has remained throughout the ups and downs of the company’s life. There is no corner cutting, no compromise in the creation of the product. Even the outlet product is still of high quality, and this isn’t something that can be said about other brands with outlet stores. The prices have remained similar too; compared to similar brands, £25 for a t-shirt seems like a bargain. A waterproof, surprisingly warm but light-to-wear jacket for £70 — who could say no to that?
As an employee, Superdry is actually a decent brand to work for. The pay is good (and nowadays money is THE most important thing for employees) and the discount is excellent. Now, those my age may ask why you would want discount on crap clothing, or ‘stuff that nobody wants’. Well it’s simple; I love a bargain, so I would never say no. Plus, trust me, it really comes in handy when it comes to birthdays and Christmas; you would not believe how many times this has saved me — although my parents who have received Superdry clothing for the past 5 years in a row may disagree. As an employee, you also receive between £200–£500 worth of clothing allowance, so you don’t even have to pay for the clothes that you work in. I challenge anyone, even those who believe Superdry clothing is the work of Satan, to turn down free clothing to that amount. If you do, you’ve lost your marbles.
So yes, I am in the vast minority of people who like Superdry, and this is not something I am going to go to the nearest rooftop to shout about. It’s just not. But I won’t throw mud at it; I will continue to wear and enjoy wearing it because in reality, it really is not as bad as the youth of today would have you know.
