BENJART: From London’s Streets to Luxury Department Store

The Brand, The Founder and The Impact

Benjart is now a very well established UK luxury streetwear brand, embraced by Britain’s street elite, and founded by Jerone Benjamin (AKA Mr. Benjamin) in 2007. Besides being a UK streetwear staple, it has also been embraced and casually worn by numerous American heavy-hitters including Meek Mill, Rick Ross, Camron and the late Young Dolph, a positive projection of the brands global potential.

Not to mention, in late 2021 we also saw Benjart become official retail partners with the prestigious luxury department store Harvey Nichols, further cementing the brand as a premium fashion label. What Mr. Benjamin, the owner of Benjart, has managed to accomplish thus far is nothing short of Black British history in the making. The contribution he has made as one of the pioneers of the UK street fashion scene will have an everlasting impact as we see more and more up and coming streetwear brands walking in the footsteps set before them and taking advantage of the blueprint that had to be boldly developed through initiative, calculation, trial and error. Benjart, a self-described "premium fashion brand", has managed to effectively maintain a hold of the streets while transcending most streetwear brands into the realm of luxury apparel. However, within the few public appearances Mr. Benjamin has made since the inception of Benjart, it is quite clear that he has retained an awareness of where he came from and where his business began.

 

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS: Putting "Street" in Streetwear

In a 2015 interview with Josh Ford, Mr. Benjamin details the origins of Benjart,  stating early on that the brand started with £100 and no outside investment. He recounts going to Malia with friends and deciding to print custom t-shirts at a local shop to wear as an alternative to what was readily available at the time. The tee he designed on his holiday later caught the attention of dozens of people at Notting Hill Carnival, prompting him to collect info from those who were interested.

"From there I collated 30 to 50 [phone] numbers and email addresses of people that asked me what the t-shirt was, and that's when the lightbulb moment happened. It initially started from being kind of - not happy with the high street and what was being offered there so that kind of forced us to go and make our own pieces... That's how the ball started to roll."


This origin story confirms that Benjart literally started on the streets! When asked where he draws his inspiration for his creations from, Mr. Benjamin said

"I'm definitely a product of my environment. We've all seen them X-Factor stories where people say 'I've come from a negative environment.' I don't call it a negative environment because it's made me who I am today... I'm far from negative." He attributes his motivation to his family, namely his mum and his daughter, and later proudly states "I don't know any street fashion brand or premium brand that started from the street level with their own surname." 

 

HARVEY NICHOLS PARTNERSHIP: A Long Time Coming

Fast forward to the present, Benjart has separated itself from most UK streetwear lines in many ways, one being their decision to take on a retail partnership with Harvey Nichols, a luxury department store. Most UK streetwear brands have not had the opportunity to partner with a major retailer and the few who have had the chance generally take the sportswear-retailer route. Benjart's first collaboration with Harvey Nichols was a one day pop-up event in 2014. A Benjart boutique was strategically placed in between Versace and Polo Ralph Lauren at the department stores prominent Knightsbridge location. Benjart subsequently orchestrated several more pop up shops across the country within distinguished locations, including within Harvey Nichols' various branches nationwide.

 

 

Mr. Benjamin gives credit to his pals at Fresh Laces (a sneaker vendor for true sneakerheads and once retail partners with Harvey Nichols) for his introduction to the major retailer.

"They've actually got a whole footwear section solely for themselves, which is amazing! They pitched to [Harvey Nichols] to have brands such as Benjart to be able to sell their products, which are doing very well on the street level, in a store like Harvey Nichols."

He goes on to say,

"I respect [Fresh Laces] so much because they really put their neck on the line... They already were in and [asking] something extra could have maybe harmed what they were doing."

Keep in mind, this was in 2014, before there was much concrete confirmation that UK street fashion brands like Benjart could succeed at a high corporate level in general, let alone within one of the UK's most successful luxury department stores. At the end of 2021, Benjart secured a long term partnership with the retailer.

 

RACE AND OPPORTUNITY

Benjart's bonafide partnership with Harvey Nichols seems like a natural progression within their business relationship and perhaps even overdue. When observing how much the climate has changed as of recent years in respects to UK streetwear, with interest and demand skyrocketing, it is undeniable that Benjart played a significant role in developing the foundation upon which newer entrants into the streetwear scene have been able to successfully build upon. Not to mention UK street culture as a whole has boomed over the past five to seven years, further bolstering the street fashion industry as we consistently see our favourite rappers rocking the latest streetwear drops. It took Benjart approximately seven years before they were offered their first pop up shop and then another seven years before they were offered a long term partnership deal.
From Observer Magazine: "Streets ahead: Stormzy’s pick of five fashion brands you need to know" - Photograph: Ekua King/The Observer
Brands like Hood Rich and Fully Paid, black-owned streetwear brands founded in 2014 and 2017 respectively, have partnered up with major nationwide retailers, notably in a fraction of the time it took before Benjart were offered their long term partnership deal. That is arguably a direct testament to the progression made possible by early pioneers like Benjart and Trapstar, who had to navigate uncharted territory, prove themselves and inspire an appreciation for British streetwear across the nation.
On the other hand, black streetwear brands as a whole are still few and far between on Britain's high streets, with most promoting and selling from their social media accounts and independent websites. In June 2020, Mr. Benjamin made an appearance on the 'Talk Da Tingz Podcast" and was asked if he had personally experienced any racial biases within the fashion industry.
He mentions being curious as to why the Benjart success story, and the brand in general, had not been picked up by any major publications besides when Stormzy mentioned it to Observer Magazine, but admits he is not sure whether or not it had an "underbelly of racism" or was simply a PR failure on his part. However, shortly after, he goes on to say,

"The fashion industry as a whole has turned it's nose up at 'Black Street Fashion'."

"I feel like there's an actual market for black street fashion that wasn't there 13-15 years ago and it's fully established now. [Benjart is] one of the pioneers of that and right now it's still kind of shunned by the stores... You might have a couple of brands in the stores or whatever, but they're not really taking what's going on in the streets of England properly [into account]."

He goes on to say,

"I feel like there's quite a few brands that should have a stronghold in stores in the UK. At the end of the day it's UK fashion and UK fashion should be sold within stores... When you look at the amount of UK street brands that are operating at a certain level - and then you look at the stores - and then you look at who owns the brands that are in the stores, then you start seeing the disparity... That's when you start breaking it down. Is it because of the conversation we're having right now?"


SURVIVING AND THRIVING: Overcoming The Great Recession and a Global Pandemic

What Benjart has accomplished thus far is no easy feat. As a company founded in 2007 they inevitably had to work through the many challenges presented by The Great Recession which started in 2007 and was in full effect throughout 2008. The recession was a time where many business owners were demoralised and disheartened as credit became harder to attain and consumers became tight-fisted. Despite the climate, Mr. Benjamin continued to work throughout, building independently and carefully snowballing his initial £100 investment. At that point the brand was still in its infancy but had the great benefit of minimal overhead costs and no debt. The company survived and continued to grow and thrive throughout the 2010's. However, twelve years after the Great Recession, the Coronavirus pandemic shook the globe at a point when Benjart was on track to accomplish their most successful year ever. By then there was a whole staff to pay and manufacturers with outstanding invoices, among the many other costs of running a clothing business. On 'The Dreamers Club Podcast', Mr Benjamin highlights the importance of a business having an emergency fund and spending within its means. He mentions that he nearly opened up a physical store just before the pandemic hit, which could have potentially dealt a death blow to his business if he went through with the deal before lockdown was initiated. He was financially on track for a great year and was ultimately offered everything that he had negotiated but he had a gut feeling that it was not the right time. At the start of the pandemic Benjart was hit with an 80% sales decrease as the public's attention shifted to the unprecedented circumstances at hand. Nevertheless, Mr. Benjamin was able to keep his warehouse in operation and he showed up to the office daily despite giving his staff three months paid leave. The company released an unparalleled number of collections and fulfilled orders expeditiously, which boosted customer confidence. Mr. Benjart also fulfilled over 500 orders of free children's clothing during this time in a bid to support families that may not have had the means or the access at that time.

"I said to my team, 'Look. We're a brand of the community. The community builds us, so we have a duty of care to try to do something for the community as well."

Mr. Benjamin's exemplary personal and business principles have preserved Benjart and pushed the company from milestone to milestone for over 14 years. With the business standing stronger than ever, a thriving UK streetwear scene, and ambitions of becoming globally renowned, it is safe to say the best has yet to come for Benjart.

 

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