Liberty London celebrates 150 years while asking itself, “How do we be relevant forever?”

Liberty London is an icon of British retailing, standing apart from all other department stores in the world, as its heritage-listed black-and-white Tudor-revival building offers an intimate and boutique emporium setting, rather than an overwhelming megastore, for some of the biggest names in fashion and beauty.

For 2025, Liberty famed for its iconic department store and design house, with an archive of more than 65,000 prints, is marking its 150th anniversary, and FashionUnited sat down with Liberty London’s Adil Khan, who has been chief executive since 2018, to get his take on why the department store and brand continues to be successful, how it stays relevant in todays changing retail marketplace, as well as its plans to celebrate its milestone with a fashion collaboration with Frida Giannini.

“Very few companies get to 150 years, and we ask ourselves the question, how are we going to be relevant forever, all the time,” said Adil Khan. “We are a retailer, we’re also a brand, and we are an artistic movement, and then this building is a monument. We also have a unique archive that is impossible to replicate today. It covers more than 150 years, as it includes designs from previous decades, which we look at as a calendar of humanity’s creativity.”

At the heart of its success is its Great Marlborough Street store, with its old-world charm, iconic wooden atrium and wood-panelled rooms utilising timbers from two ancient 'three-decker' battle ships, and even its creaky floorboards, as well as the fact that it doesn’t have any escalators. It is this unique atmosphere, mixed with its original curation and commitment to craftsmanship, which it describes as “unapologetically eccentric,” which sets this department store apart from its London competitors.

Khan added: “Arthur Liberty had this idea 120 years ago that he wanted to build a store that was not a store. He wanted it to be a house, because he said people would be able to see the wares and imagine them in their own environment.

“As a store, it shouldn’t work. We don’t have any escalators. Why? Because Liberty said people don't have escalators in their homes. This is the only place in the world where people happily walk up creaky stairs. We also don’t have line-of-sight; it’s all a series of rooms, all built with the wood from ships. So, you have that mystical feeling that you’re inside a galleon sometimes.

“It is all unusual and counterintuitive for retail, but there is a special feel.”

Liberty London 150 Years: "Business is strong"

As an iconic London retailer, the impression would be that the majority of its customers would be tourists, especially as it sits close to the major shopping areas of Regent Street and Oxford Street; however, its typical customer base is more local than tourist, which is also “very loyal”.

Khan added: “Our business is strong, we’re in double-digit growth. We’ve grown every year since Covid, and every year before Covid. In fact, the year we didn’t was the year of Covid. We have a very loyal customer base, who like that what we do is different. Our edit is eclectic, and our customers have high repeat rates.

“We have a peculiarly high and refreshing British customer base. 70 percent of our customer base is local. We don’t have some of the groups and countries other people have. Americans are our biggest group for tourists, together with the Japanese, both of which admire heritage and history, and then the Middle Easterners who devour our fabrics.”

Liberty London is in a unique position, where it is a retailer, not only for its own-branded products but also third-party brands, covering fashion, beauty and lifestyle, and it also has a strong wholesale business for its fabrics, which are sold around the world.

It might be surprising to know that 50 percent of what Liberty sells, it makes. Its own-label goods are driving sales, especially its luxury perfume range LBTY, inspired by its prints launched in October 2023, developed by perfumers at Swiss fragrance giant Dsm-Firmenich. The fragrance and beauty section of the business is described by Khan as a “big part of the future of the company,” and an area which will allow the company “to push out the brand internationally”. The first step towards global expansion is the launch of LBTY in the North American market this year via a distribution network that includes department store chain Neiman Marcus.

“Our mission statement is that we are a place of discovery, yes, we have heritage, yes, we have participated in multiple decades of taste making, but we never want to be a looking back company or brand, and the way we don’t fall into that is by pursuing discovery by being a place where new brands launch, elevating craftspeople, and embracing innovations,” added Khan. “We also use collaborations that are forward looking, like with Adidas, Samsung, and Microsoft. Even outside of the realm of fashion, craft or fabrics, we use our collabs to give us a contemporary angle.”

Liberty London taps Frida Giannini for a capsule fashion and accessories collection

To push the brand forward, while celebrating its 150th anniversary, and to continue its mission “to bring good design to all,” Liberty London tapped legendary creative director, Frida Giannini, to design an exclusive capsule collection for the retailer.

The collaboration marks Giannini’s first major project since leaving Italian fashion house Gucci 10 years ago, and aims to celebrate Liberty’s legacy in design, craftsmanship and creativity, honouring its past while looking to the future by capturing its reputation for bold and fearless design with bespoke detailing and Italian luxury.

Commenting on the project, Khan said: “We’ve celebrated our heritage with an exhibition that has travelled to the Osaka Expo, telling the story of our fabrics and design, and our archive, and we said to ourselves, what can we do that is special?

“Throughout our history, we’ve collaborated with great designers, and we thought of Frida, she’s not just a designer, she’s a historian of fashion, and her creations have always had at the core, craftmanship. And craftsmanship is something for us that is resistibly attractive, it’s kind of what makes us different.”

When asked if it was a hard sell, Khan stressed that Giannini said yes immediately, as she is “a customer and fan of Liberty,” as well as being “obsessed with British music, London and Britain”.

Khan added: “We like to see our story through external eyes, rather than beating our own drum. Hypernova 150 is her vision. She worked with our designers, looked through our archive, and enjoyed the freedom to reimagine Liberty through her lens.

“We also enjoyed seeing her craft, from her eye for detail to her standards, and the people she worked with to create the products, like all the bags were created in that Florence area of Tuscany.”

The result is a celebration of contrasts, where “the spirit of rebellion meets craftsmanship,” blending British tradition of Liberty’s heritage with modern glamour, while also drawing on Liberty’s iconic status in British culture and its proximity to Carnaby Street, long a symbol of countercultural style and music.

With that in mind, as well as Giannini’s love of British music, each piece in the collection has been imbued with a subtle rock-and-roll attitude, to place Liberty at the forefront of art, design and culture. Key looks include the ‘Nelson’ coat, crafted in Italy from a rich wool-cashmere blend, featuring a sharp, longline silhouette with military-inspired details and bronze piping, with custom lining inside in a nod to the rebel spirit of Britpop, naval tailoring reimagined in velvet and felted cashmere, and metallic-detailed silk pyjamas featuring an all-over Union Jack print.

Commenting on the collaboration, Giannini said in a statement: “Liberty is more than a store - it’s a cultural landmark and artistic movement. Its founder, Arthur Lasenby Liberty, created a movement that fused art, nature, and craft. Designing Hypernova 150 was about capturing that vision - reborn through modern eyes.

“It’s a privilege to design for a brand whose name is seen as a style leader in the history of art and design. I am really proud and honoured to have been chosen.”

The focal point of the limited-edition capsule collection is the bags and accessories, an area that Liberty has become known for, and the Hypernova 150 collection features card holders and bags featuring a unique Union Jack print, alongside bucket bags, totes and crossbody bags crafted in ultra-soft suede and leather.

The collection also features Liberty’s first-ever bespoke hardware, including gold-bronze new groumette chain straps and engraved logo buttons, as well as a deco-inspired double L logo seen throughout.

Khan added: “The whole collection has come out above my expectations, but the bags showcase a staggering level of craftsmanship and quality, just look at the hardware, my favourite part of the bags, it is basically jewellery, which have all been forged especially for the collection, some are like remarkable engineering pieces.

“Frida created the double L logo, she was very inspired by our typography and lettering, taking the cursive L from the 20s and superimposing the modern L that we use today. It’s like a sculpture that works on multiple levels. It has past and present, it has Liberty London with the double L, and a bit of her signature, as she loves doubles.”

With Liberty’s vast 60,000-strong design archive, there is also an element of celebrating Liberty’s history of creating iconic prints, with Giannini drawing inspiration from the painterly 1920s Heron print, which has been resized and recoloured, and used across trousers and a dress, and she also created a Liberty tartan in Scotland for a kilt.

“Every detail is bespoke. From the swing tags to the studs, it was about telling Liberty’s story with modern energy and soul,” added Giannini.

The Hypernova 150 collection launches today, October 9, with a special takeover in the atrium and the iconic Liberty windows. For the fashion, entry prices range from 125 pounds for a scarf to 1,995 pounds for the coat, with the majority of the ready-to-wear sitting below the 1,000-pound mark. For the bags, the average price is around 1,000 pounds, explains Liberty. The boxy mini bucket bag, crafted in Italy from smooth, supple leather with our custom Hypernova printed lining, costs 695 pounds, while the statement ‘Swing’ suede bag with fringe detailing retails for 1,295 pounds.

“Hypernova 150 is a declaration of where we’re headed: bold, visionary, and creatively fearless,” added Khan.

While the collaboration was intended as a one-off to mark the 150th milestone, Khan expressed that they’ve been so “wowed by the results” that they are considering whether to extend the relationship. He also stressed that Liberty hasn’t talked with Giannini about additional collections, just that “its been special,” and that her designs “have a lot of longevity,” which could see some of the products becoming part of Liberty’s permanent collection.