LONDON — In an age of artificial intelligence, virtual worlds and screen fatigue, Simon Burstein is going old school, building luxury brand Leathersmith of London on a foundation of leather-bound books, and niche craftsmanship.
After his family sold the London specialty store Browns to Farfetch in 2015, Burstein opened The Place, a clutch of high-end boutiques in London and Paris.
At the same time, he also bought Leathersmith of London, a leather and stationery brand established in 1839 that he’d discovered more than 20 years ago at Fortnum & Mason in London.
In what appeared to be a detour, he also bought the place where Leathersmith’s books were made, Charfleet Book Bindery on Canvey Island in Essex, where the River Thames empties into the North Sea.
A dreamer, and a lateral thinker, he set about running both businesses side-by-side.
He’s recently invested 2 million pounds in the bindery, and later this month will cut the ribbon on the newly refurbished, 8,000-square-foot space alongside Sophie, the new Duchess of Edinburgh.
The bindery employs 25 people and makes Bibles as well as notebooks and diaries for clients including Liberty, Fortnum & Mason, Thomas Pink and Aspinal of London.
Burstein describes the bindery as home to “rare craftsmanship” with a staff of “highly skilled workers.” He bought it for many reasons, but mainly because he couldn’t bear to see it run into financial difficulties, or shut altogether. That would have been heartbreaking, he said.
While buying a bindery may have been an offbeat choice for a man who has spent a career running Browns, Sonia Rykiel and various multi- and mono-brand stores in London and Paris, it fits Burstein’s life narrative. In the 1980s, he launched Filofax in France through his paper and stationery store Le Jour et L’Heure in Saint-Germain-des-Près.
That’s why running a bindery, and a building a luxury men’s brand, feels natural.
“I’m reconnecting the pieces of what I’ve been doing my whole career,” said Burstein, whose framed mementos from the Filofax days — such as tributes from designers including Karl Lagerfeld and Patrick Kelly — hang inside The Place London.
With the bindery flourishing, he’s focusing his attention on turning Leathersmith of London — with its bookish DNA — into an accessible luxury brand.
Although he’s shown at Pitti Uomo before, Burstein is expecting the upcoming showcase to be a “game-changer” for Leathersmith. He plans to introduce a host of new products and styles, ranging from leatherbound books to luxury separates on the brand’s stand at Pavilion Centrale, on the lower ground floor.
In an interview, Burstein said the time is right because the industry “has returned to normality. People are traveling and spending again.” He has his sights set on U.S. retailers such as Nordstrom.
He’ll be offering cashmere knitwear; printed cotton outerwear; scarves hand-embroidered in India; shirts, and jazzy patterned socks. There will also be small leather goods; leather and cotton canvas bags; backpacks, and cases with the brand’s lion with red tongue logo embroidered on the front.
Until now the Leathersmith products have been selling at The Place London’s menswear store, and on Farfetch, with prices ranging from 20 pounds for a pair of socks and 95 pounds for a T-shirt with a vintage placement print to 395 pounds for the Donegal cashmere sweaters, which come in a range of rich hues. Sporty cotton jackets with patch pockets and faded tartan and flower patterns are priced at 500 pounds.
Those items will be on display alongside the Leathersmith notebooks and diaries, which are grouped into styles named after some of England’s most famous cathedrals: Canterbury, Bath, St. Paul’s and Chichester. The notebook collections are inspired by the bindery’s Bible business.
The books range in price from 40 pounds to 95 pounds, depending on their size.
Burstein has long been determined to make Leathersmith a lifestyle brand.
In an interview in 2016 he told WWD, “I’m not deluding myself. I know it’s going to be a long journey, but I think consumers are always inspired by authenticity. I’m attached to this brand and have worked hard to preserve it.”
While Leathersmith and the Charfleet Bindery have been taking up much of his time of late, Burstein is still running The Place men’s and women’s stores in London and Paris.
The Place is located on Connaught Street in London and on Rue de l’Odéon in Paris, not far from the Odéon Theatre in Saint-Germain-des-Prés.
Both stores carry indie brands, which Burstein makes a business of discovering, promoting and sometimes relaunching. They stock men’s and women’s labels such as Sofie D’Hoore, Pierre-Louis Mascia, Thierry Colson and Lardini, and jewelry brands such as Celeste Mogador, Rakhi Me and Loulou de la Falaise.
He said he’s committed to hunting down and promoting small brands that might not have big profiles beyond their founders’ native countries. “I won’t carry any big brands — I’ve done that already. For me, it’s about finding people and emerging brands, and giving them an opportunity to grow. And I want to offer an interesting mix, a beautiful environment and great service,” he told WWD in 2019 when he opened the Paris store.
Burstein has retail in his bones.
His family founded the London specialty retailer Browns in 1970 (he was the one who originally pushed his parents to buy the store) and sold it to Farfetch. Before the sale, he served as its chief executive officer, and has run various retailers.
His 97-year-old mother Joan Burstein, known as Mrs. B, remains honorary chair of Browns.
She set the template for the Burstein retail strategy, famously launching and nurturing what were then unknown, emerging names including John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan. She also introduced international ones, such as Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Missoni to the U.K. market.
“She loved nothing more than engaging with customers on the shop floor — and then checking the tickets at the end of each day to see what sold,” Burstein said in a speech at Mrs. B’s 90th birthday extravaganza at Claridge’s in 2016.
Burstein said his proudest moment was seeing his mother chatting endlessly with Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace when she received her CBE, Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire honor, in 2006.
“They have so much in common. They are the same age, with birthdays that are close together. They both love the same colors and carry Launer handbags, which, by the way, you can find at my new store,” he said, referring to The Place in London.