Reiss, the London-based fashion retailer, is a on a rollout spree. Not only are they opening their fourth US Store in Los Angles on Robertson Boulevard (the first three are dotted around New York City), they are also opening a new location on Ledbury Rd in London's Notting Hill, which also happens to be my street.

Reiss' positioning is unique in the market. They are occupying the less-and-less seen mid-priced space in between Luxury and High-Street fashion. Many companies that have previously occupied this space have either started going upscale (e.g. Diesel, which is now trying to position itself as a luxury brand with a new shop on London's Bond Street) or they are going closer to high-street (e.g. Benetton, which is moving a bit further down and trying to catch up with the fast fashion business model). This is the result of the fact that many consumers are now opting for branded high fashion at premium prices or 'disposable', trend-driven fast-fashion copycats, or even mixing the two up with the now-slightly-overused-but-still-relevant term "high-low", i.e. combinations of a Zara top paired with a Gucci bag and Prada shoes. In between, you have the mid-priced space (which often competes with the diffusion lines of big fashion companies, like "Marc by Marc Jacobs" or "See by Chloe") which is a smaller segment with fewer and fewer players.

What Reiss has done right is that they don't skimp on quality. For consumers who don't care about brands, but still want designer fashion of high quality (and for whom, therefore Zara and H&M just won't cut it), Reiss is a good alternative. Some of my friends swear by Reiss' off-the-peg suits for daily wear to the office, because the prices and styles are good, and they can save their bespoke stuff for special occasions.