British fashion retailer Fat Face is making a push across the Atlantic with plans to open its first U.S. location on Exchange Street in Portland this fall.
The retailer, which has more than 200 stores in the United Kingdom and Ireland, recently launched a U.S. version of its website and says it hopes to open 10 locations on the East Coast within the next two years.
Fat Face plans to open its Portland location in November. It will be at 34 Exchange St., a 1,780-square-foot retail space formerly occupied by J.L. Coombs Footwear/Apparel, according to the Portland-based commercial real estate firm CBRE |The Boulos Co., which represented the retailer in the lease transaction. The property owner was represented by Malone Commercial Brokers of Portland.
Fat Face, which brands itself as a “lifestyle clothing and accessories retailer,” was founded in 1988 by Tim Slade, a former policeman, and Jules Leaver, a business school graduate. Both avid skiers, they started out selling custom-printed shirts at popular European ski resorts and eventually opened their first retail location in London in 1993.
The name “Fat Face” is a reference to the Face de Bellevarde slope at Val-d’Isère ski resort in southeastern France.
Company CEO Anthony Thompson told the British newspaper The Guardian in June that he had scoured the Northeast for the perfect location in which to launch the brand in the U.S. Thompson cited one unusual criterion he looked for: the presence of quality ice cream.
“It’s got to be homemade and come in big portions,” he told the newspaper. “There has got to be a great vanilla and maybe toffee or butterscotch. If they do lemon meringue, the chances are we will open a shop.”
Fat Face is owned by London-based private equity firm Bridgepoint Capital. In May 2014, the company abandoned plans to sell up to $170 million worth of shares on the stock market via an initial public offering, citing poor market conditions.
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