White Stuff - All about WhiteStuff Ltd - history, jobs, sale, opening hours, stores location and more........

White Stuff was started in 1985, from very humble beginings, by two British University students who had a passion for skiing. Whilst on a skiing holiday in France they decided that they didn't want to go back to university but wanted to carry on skiing instead. However, they needed to find a way to make money to support themselves. At the time, there was a popular film / TV series called "Boys from the black stuff" by Alan Bleasedale. This gave the two students the idea to print and sell sweatshirts with the logo "Boys from the white stuff" on them, with the white stuff being snow. They initialy sold these sweatshirts from a suitcase, then graduated to a market stall and eventually opening two shops in the ski resorts, selling ski-wear. Their first store in the UK was in Battersea London, which today is still their flagship and largest store.

White Stuff no longer sells ski-wear and has successfully carved out a niche for itself within the casual wear market, selling clothes to both men and women within the 25 - 60 age group.

Whilst not cheap, White Stuff  clothes are usually of good quality, and are often quite quirky, either being in a quirky print or featuring unusual design details. They have the usual casualwear basics such as jeans, leggings tee-shirts, and activewear, but there is usually a twist such as unusual buttons or a colourful lining detail.

They also sell more interesting casualwear such as funky tunics to wear with leggings, skirts in a quirky print or pretty printed jersey dresses ideal for a family lunch.

Occasionally there are items suitable to wear to the office, they are quite soft in style, such a grey flannel trousers or a soft, white shirt.

Whilst White Stuff clothes are colourful, the colours are soft, there are no harsh or fluorescent colours and you will hardly see any black.

The White Stuff look is not high fashion or catwalk style, the styles hardly change, they are simply updated each season in a new colour or print. Each store usually features 3-4 different packages at a time, each one being based around a different colour theme. There is usually a new package each month which keeps the stock looking new and exciting.

White Stuff has grown rapidly and currently has about 70 stores throughout the UK. It's stores are rarely found on the High Street, and are usually found in secondary shopping areas, which are usually quite quirky and local to it's target customers.

White Stuff also has stores withinJohn Lewis, together with it's own  two discount outlets stores, one in Portsmouth and the other at Clarks Village, Street in Somerset, which offer White Stuff clothes at bargain prices.

White Stuff also has a website and can deliver anywhere around the world.

Like most fashion retailers, White Stuff holds four sales a year. The two main ones are the Winter and Summer sales which typically start within a few days after Christmas and towards the end of the summer. There are also two mid-season sales, which are smaller and these are usually held in the Spring and Autumn.

There are also about four "customer event" days held each year, usually on a Thursday when the stores open from 9am to 9pm. There is usually free food and drinks for customers to enjoy together with a discount of about 15-20%. There may even be freebies such as goody bags provided by other retailers. To receive an invite to the "customer event" days, you need to sign up to their mailing list, either online or in store.

If you are interested in a career in retail, White Stuff is able to offer a lot of opportunities, from jobs in store ranging from Product Advisors to Managers, to jobs at their Head Office, Warehouse and Distribution Centres and Mail Order Customer Service Centre. White Stuff is a rapidly growing company and employees are able to progress quickly within the company if they wish to.

White Stuff is well known for its fun and colourful window displays. Each season there is a new theme which is used for it's window display, catalogues and carrier bags. There are usually four window displays a year and many customers want to buy the prop items in the windows. At the end of each season, the old windows are dismantled and the items can be given to customers in exchange for a donation to the stores charity. Each store has it's own charity which it raises money for.

The White Stuff Logo - Many people ask what the White Stuff logo means. It is a chinese symbol for the word clothes.

Most White Stuff stores open 9.30 - 6.00 Monday to Saturday and 11.00- 5.00 on Sundays.The stores are open on all of the Bank Holidays except for Christmas Day and Easter Sunday.

White Stuff Online

You can also buy White Stuff clothing on their website which can be found at www.whitestuff.com.

WhiteStuff is very lucky in that it has a large fan base of very loyal customers. If you are a fan of White Stuff, I hope you have enjoyed reading my article and learning a little about the company.

I have taken a look at products available on Amazon.com, which are similar in style to those sold in White Stuff. So if you are a White Stuff fan, please take a look at the items I have selected. I hope you like them.

If there are any that you are interested in, simply click on an item and you will be taken straight through to Amazon's website where you can view further details and make a purchase if you wish.