19 December 2023

Swaine Christmas Windows

Leach creates pause-worthy Christmas window displays for the UK’s oldest luxury goods brand 

The Brief

Haute British brand Swaine is a celebrated purveyor of men’s and women’s luxury accessories including hats, bags, scarves and umbrellas. With a rich heritage spanning back to the mid-18th century, Swaine’s reputation for beautiful handcrafted goods of exceptional quality has endured to the current day.

Investing in the brand’s bricks and mortar stores has been a key part of its strategy in recent years. 2022 saw the opening of a boutique Swaine store in Mayfair’s Burlington Arcade and an exquisite 7,000 sq ft. flagship store in New Bond Street followed in Spring 2023. So it was no surprise that when it came time to dress the windows of both stores for Christmas 2023, Swaine had planned a decadent display that harked back to its heritage whilst simultaneously enticing contemporary consumers.

With its full turnkey window display service and proven expertise in the retail industry, the Huddersfield-based printer Leach was awarded the prestigious contract to supply and install the graphics for both Swaine stores in late November.

The Solution

The House of Swaine designed a playful window display for both stores centred around the theme of gentleman’s games. The brief included backgammon checkers, cards, chess pieces, dominoes and dice that were to be nestled amongst quaint cut-out figurines of sketched aristocratic Victorians, top hats, hot air balloons and antique motors in shades of blue and pink.

To create Swaine’s vision, Leach crafted in excess of 150 printed elements in a range of materials to dress both locations. 3D structures in various shapes and sizes were formed using vinyl-wrapped MDF and foamex, a delicate aspect of the project that involved bespoke joinery work, precise vinyl trimming with accurate flush application and the hand painting of all edges in Pantone-matched shades to finish. Discreet acrylic stands were supplied to securely position the freestanding graphics where required.

To serve as a backdrop to the 3D and freestanding graphics, Leach also produced colourful dibond panels with flush-mounted vinyl that featured logos, subtle geometric patterns and oversized playing card designs. And to display the graphic arrangement at a height perfectly level with the bottom of the windows, the printer crafted several stretches of templated plinth flooring in contrasting colours.

Adding a classical festive touch, suspended gold and pink stars were added to the window displays by way of a bespoke hanging structure installed in the space above. Lengths of acrylic tubing descended from the structures which were each bonded to a metal star (as well as a few clubs, spades, hearts and diamonds!). Affixing the suspended elements in this way ensured that they did not spin, remaining perfectly forward-facing at all times, precisely as Swaine’s designer envisaged. The hanging structures are permanent fixtures but are entirely reusable. Encompassing a system of rails and hooks, Swaine is now able to create varied effects with every new campaign, positioning suspended graphics in different places and at different heights.

From start to finish, the project was turned around by Leach in less than one week following a detailed in-person survey of both stores by its team. The artwork proofing and quality checking process took two days whilst production was expedited to take only three days. The installations were completed over a single weekend, with the first store’s windows completed overnight on Saturday and the second overnight on Sunday, minimising disruption to staff and shoppers at a busy time of year and ensuring the Christmas campaign was unveiled by mid-November.

The Heritage Brand Looks to the Future

Every aspect of the project was custom-built to exacting standards, creating elegant windows worthy of Swaine’s highbrow clientele and its prestigious new London locations. Showcasing a treasure trove of artisanal luxury goods perfect for Christmas gifting, the collection of nostalgic graphics successfully nod to Swaine’s esteemed past and time-honoured crafting techniques whilst cementing it as an innovative, forward-thinking brand embracing the future. So impressed are the team at Swaine that they have appointed Leach to once again dress its windows in January 2024.

Max Karie, Swaine’s visual Merchandiser, commented “I’m over the moon with the entire installation and the quality of the kit supplied.”

“It was a real honour for Swaine to put their Christmas window campaign into our hands. Our wide breadth of specialist printing capabilities came together to produce a stunning display that exceeded expectations. I’m proud to say that this was completed against quite a tight timeframe but with no detriment to the high-quality graphics that we are known for. I look forward to working with Swaine into the new year and beyond”, added Tom Foster, Director of Project Management at Leach.

Looking to upgrade the window displays for your store? Contact Leach today on 01484 551200 or visit weareleach.com.