Product range. Footwear for men, women, and kids. An eclectic mix of styles that serve a variety of purposes. Rubber ballet flats are sold alongside trainers, classic ankle boots, and Dr. Martens boots. Utterly kitschy styles inspired by Japanese lolita fashion can also be found there in abundance. The men's range is mostly limited to sports shoes.
Originality. Office is a chain of multi-brand stores with in-house eponymous line of footwear. Office's selection of brands is as eclectic as its product range. It features sports footwear staple brands like Nike, adidas, New Balance, Converse with Vagabond (Sweden) added to the mix, as well as more upscale brands like Ralph Lauren and Ted Baker. The in-house footwear range by Office covers mostly time-honoured styles: from suede pointed court shoes to desert boots to loafers to low heel ankle boots that have a bit more of a rough quality to them.
Chic. Office exploits only the safest trends and caters to the tastes and predilections of the majority of British customers. The product mix is far from being unique as one can find pretty much the same elsewhere, in a number of other British footwear stores. However, this is something to be traded off against over a hundred of stand alone stores and half that number of concessions in the UK. Office also runs an online store that boasts a very comprehensive selection of footwear.
Pricing. From £7 espadrilles to £219 quirky shoes by Irregular Choice. But most of them falls into the under-£100 range.
Corporate history highlights. The company was founded in 1981 as a concession. The first stand alone store was opened in London in 1984. Office started its overseas expansion in 2004, when the company opened several stores in Ireland as well as a number of in-store shops in Topshop concessions stateside. In 2014, the company also expanded into the German market Office's sister brand Offspring, a fashion sportswear specialist, was launched in 1996.
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