Rtister: The ultimate boutique for trendy shopping in the heart of Chelsea
Here at Your Coffee Break, we love the collections over at Rtister just as much as the next fashion-savvy girl. Situated in a prime location at London’s prestigious Duke of York Square, in the heart of Chelsea – alongside its online boutique which features the latest luxury designers and contemporary fashion – Rtister is the perfect destination for trend-seeking fashionistas worldwide. After much deliberation over how designers without their own store can compete against more well-known brands of the industry, owners Shahrzad Amoli and Ashkan Alavi gave into their intrigue and their own boutique was born. We sat down for a coffee with this dynamic duo earlier this week to get an insight into their overwhelming success.
Prior to launching Rtister, both Ash and Shahrzad held high positions in international organisations, offering valuable insights into how to run a successful business. While Ash was the youngest CEO of an international organisation, merging his interest in the creative and technological worlds, Shahrzad spent 18 years involved within the world of international development. Although this may seem to be an unlikely foundation for a popular fashion boutique, “We’ve both lived in environments where fashion has had a strong daily presence around us, sometimes in quite unconventional ways of expressing opinion.” Ash tells YCB. “A strong influence for Shahrzad has been her mother who’s always been fascinated by all things fashion. She always expressed how in her youth a career in fashion was not considered a serious option in life and she therefore never pursued her passion. It’s refreshing to know that this has now changed and there are endless ways of being involved and so many career paths in fashion. This is our way of contributing to the industry!”
Having developed exponentially over recent years, with a wide selection of sophisticated lines sourced from London to Sydney and everywhere in between, Rtister provides Chelsea with a unique and vibrant edge. With their flagship store based in an area which is well-known for high-end shopping, alongside many luxury mainstream fashion labels, it is their refreshing confidence in the local consumers’ interest in unique items which sets Rtister apart from other boutiques. Taking lead from the shift in East London’s merging of high-end fashion with its renowned edginess, Rtister sees it as “only natural that a hybrid of high-end luxury mixed with an edge and boldness should find its way to Chelsea.”
When asked what they believe is the key to such a successful business, they explained to YCB, “We’d like to think it’s down to our intimate, informal approach, be it with our designers, who we know and interact with closely, or our approach to our customers. We’ve heard on numerous occasions how warm they’re made to feel when they walk into our store. Likewise in the online world we give our customers the kind of treatment we’d like to receive ourselves and then move it up a notch to make them our VIPs. We have great faith and take pride in the work of the designers who feature on Rtister and enjoy being witness to their rise.”
Rtister plays host to some incredible designer brands such as Alice McCall and Teatum Jones. They are known for endorsing up-and-coming designers and offering them a platform to showcase their work, as they value the importance of creativity in the fashion industry. They believe that every person involved in the process of creating a piece are artists, whether that is the designer or the consumer choosing it from the rails, building the foundation behind their name and its pronunciation artister. When asked which designers have inspired their own vision, they told YCB, “If you think about it most designers have gone through incredible journeys to get to where they are now. Mary Katrantzou, Christopher Bailey, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood. Any designer who has gone through the jitters of their graduate catwalk, worked hard and become inspiration to the next generation and is now a major label will have inspired our vision to make Rtister home to the best in contemporary fashion.”
As they both hold strong business acumen, Ash and Shahrzad believe that obvious creativity that is wearable and marketable, with the ability to sit alongside well-known brands are crucial components, when searching for a new designer. They added, “What we also always love is where each designer has a strong sense of creating their own mark in prints, cuts, colour and shapes and they become known for their special touches, identifiable to them. We are also very enthusiastic about designers with a story behind the label that is captured well in their collections.”
The future looks particularly bright for Rtister, with plans including opportunities for designers to come into close contact with customers, a digital shopping experience in our store, exclusive collaborations with designers and the start of expanding our presence to other regions. As they told YCB, “The possibilities are endless.”
For more information regarding Rtister or to browse their extensive collection, visit www.rtister.com
Photo courtesy of: www.london-boutiques.com
