I decided to do my own comp shop, looking at something I am interested in, accessories. I chose to compare a simple knitted scarf and visited six stores in Leeds.
Somehow I can’t get the full chart on here so I’ll tell you the shops and add photos below.
Mark & Spencers – had these scarfs in one section, but a huge range of scarves elsewhere.
Dorothy Perkins – a lot of fair isle with eyelash yarn added as an accent to the pattern.
Oasis had an excellent display of mainly plain knit, but with metallic threads added.
Coast – Didn’t find any scarfs on display
Top Shop – I saw lots of matching hats, but Top Shop was one of the few places where I saw matching gloves as well.
River Island – bit disappointing as the photo probably shows.
So if I was a commercial designer and had a brief to make a scarf collection I could take the information and come up with something that would compete with what I’ve seen.
What I noticed from the comp shop was lots of Mobius or wrap scarves, chunky knitted, but not necessarily in chunky wool, mohair effect and cable knitted.
I actually enjoyed that much more than I expected to and more than cushion shopping, but then I was looking at something I am interested in.
Betty Virago 