PROFILE
Independent Fashion Retailer of the Month
Independent fashion retailer Garry Johnson, of Woods Designer Clothing in Kent, tells us about how his business aligned with the growth of the UK fashion industry in the ‘80s and ‘90s, and now it’s the longest-standing independent stockist of Hugo Boss clothing in the country!
Q&A
Name: Garry Johnson Shop: Woods Designer Clothing
Brands: Hugo Boss, Gran Sasso, RRD and Doucal’s
I
originally started working in the retail sector way back in 1968; I did my training with high street national, Montague Burton
Tailoring, after previously being schooled in art and design at Medway College of Art.
Quickly realising that retail was where my
heart was, and much against my parents’ wishes at the time, I decided to pursue my new-found passion. After holding several positions with small independent companies, I eventually joined a company called West One, and I was soon appointed as a Director and Head Buyer. After a difference of opinion with fellow Directors as to the direction of the company, I decided to step out on my own! My wife Jane and I launched Woods Designer Clothing back in 1989. The name Woods came from a shoe supplier that I previously stocked; I liked the simplicity of the word, it’s ageless appeal, the type face of the logo and knowing the quality product it represented, so it seemed like a good choice.
We opened our first store in Chatham, Kent in
1989 followed by our second store in Maidstone in 1993. Whilst on a buying trip to London I stumbled across a start-up brand, called Patrick Cox, trading out of a small shop behind John Lewis in Sloan Square. The world of shoes simply exploded. Almost overnight everyone knew about Patrick Cox – or rather ‘Wannabe’ as the brand was known – and no matter what designer brand you wore up top, unless you had a pair of Wannabe loafers on your feet, forget it! Footwear has always played a big part in our
product mix at Woods, but they never had the real pull of the clothing designers we stocked, like Hugo Boss, Giorgio Armani, Versace, D&G, and Alexandra McQueen to name just a few. In fact, our strongest selling brand is
42 • FOOTWEAR & FASHION TODAY • APRIL 2026
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