About Us

Aftershock is a luxury British brand and is one of the leading designers of exquisite handcrafted womenswear and accessories. Aftershock's fashion signature is the use of exuberant colour schemes and beautiful design work and offers an array of the finest intricately beaded ladies wear, casual wear as well as stunning accessories to complement the collection. Celebrity followers include Madonna, Helen Mirren and Katherine Jenkins to name but a few.

Founded over 20 years ago, Aftershock is firmly established in the fashion market as a premium brand. Aftershock currently has over 100 stores and concessions in the UK and Europe plus stores all over the Middle East and South Africa. Aftershock was one of the youngest and most dynamic British brands to receive an award by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain in 2004. The brand continues to grow via its own stores, successful franchise programme and with quality department stores both nationally and internationally.

The cornerstones of all Aftershock's collections are its prints, shapes and intricate handiwork; the majority of which are made on varieties of luxurious and natural fibres such as silk, satin, and soft cottons. True to the brand's British heritage, the collections also incorporate traditional fabrics and classic vintage designs.

Aside from the fabulous cuts and quality fabrics synonymous with Aftershock's clothes, great attention is paid to finish and details with trims and fastenings made to the highest specifications. Aftershock's signature colours for its clothes are a mix of strong highlights that compliment monochrome classics. Each collection is influenced by the seasonal catwalk trends and often contains archive-inspired pieces that have been developed and contemporised.

The Aftershock Philosophy

Fashion has an extraordinary power. We tend to think in terms of trends and looks, but fashion's power goes far beyond either of these. Fashion has an ability to transform; our mood, our body image and our confidence. It's about how you feel as a woman. It's not about age, but about attitude.

Attitude is one of the ingredients you need to create style. Style is your personal signature created by following your instincts. It's about seductive and sophisticated items that co-ordinate to make the perfect wardrobe. It's the confidence that comes from good value and great design. It's about finding the pieces you want in one place. Aftershock understands this and can help you create your own sense of style.

Mission Statement

To introduce every woman to the concept of affordable glamour - and to then turn it into her style mantra.
To source only the best products, materials and ideas - and to recruit only the best staff to bring the three together.
To provide a creative and vibrant working environment for all our staff - and one that encourages them to treat each other with respect and positivity
To continuously set the highest standards in terms of design aims - and to continuously better them.
To develop a strong global brand - and to contribute positively towards the future of all the global communities we touch in doing so
To realise that profitability is imperative to the future of the business - but to nurture, nourish and satisfy our customers along the way

Company Heritage

Founded in 1992 as a wholesale eveningwear supplier
1,000 European trade accounts achieved within five years
Aftershock Accessories brand added in 1998
First retail store acquired in 2002 on London's famous South Molton Street
Complementary daywear brand created in 2003
Franchising introduced in 2003
Over 5,000 worldwide accounts achieved with leading department stores and boutiques in 2006

Aftershock Today

5,000 trade accounts globally
Over 500 staff worldwide
20 own retail stores
20 concessions
18 showrooms worldwide
Accounts with leading department stores such as Macy's, Bloomingdales and Nordstrom

Franchising

Aftershock operates a very successful franchising operation around the world. The Aftershock franchise programme was developed in 2003. There are franchise stores in the following countries: Italy, Slovakia, Albania, Morocco, Lebanon, Azerbaijan, Saudi Arabia (K.S.A), United Arab Emirates (U.A.E), Bahrain and Qatar. In return for becoming a franchise holder, Aftershock offer's an unrivalled fashion package that includes daily business support, IT support and exclusive franchisee discounts as well as the unique opportunity to be part of the international Aftershock success story.

The design and buying team work closely with franchise partners to develop specialised product supporting market-focused trend opportunities and cultural requirements in addition to the UK range. They also work alongside a merchandising team to plan products entering international franchise stores to help potentialise sales and manage stock in each store. In addition the UK team support franchisees across all areas of Retail and Marketing to ensure profitability reaches its full potential in each market and the brand identity is consistent globally.

These three areas combine to provide a strategic planning and trading support for all new and existing markets and store openings.

Email: franchise@aftershockplc.com to register your interest and apply now for the exclusive rights to an Aftershock franchise for your country or territory.

TV Appearances

Aftershock stores and products have featured in the following fashion and style programmes:

Celebrity Customers

Aftershock is no stranger to the red carpet. Celebrity Customers include:

Corporate Social Responsibility & Culture

Aftershock's unique and extensive range of fashion clothing, accessories and gifts draws upon specialised manufacturing expertise from around the worldwide, with a particular focus on India and China.

All Aftershock suppliers are asked to commit to The Aftershock Code of Conduct, which is based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code. This sets out minimum standards relating to working conditions, pay and employment rights. The Company works with suppliers to achieve improvements where necessary through corrective action plans. Progress is carefully monitored through regular visits and audits, carried out by in-house Aftershock specialists and independent external auditors. This includes some unannounced visits to ensure we have an accurate picture of progress.

What are the main points in our Supplier Code of Conduct?

Aftershock is committed to Fair Trade and the protection of the environment. Whenever you buy an Aftershock piece you can feel confident that you are not only buying from an extremely ethical company, which is dedicated to helping reduce poverty and improve the environment, but you are also buying fabulous, quality clothes at fantastic value.

Child labour is simply not tolerated, and we ensure that our suppliers never use children in the workplace using both permanent inspection staff onsite, as well sending out British staff throughout the year.
Equality in the Workplace - Both Men and Women are employed in the workplace, and paid equally.
Benefits for our Workers - We ensure workers are protected in the workplace with both health and accident insurance. We also ensure that our factories meet all domestic government safety guidelines, and on top of that provide comfortable, enjoyable and safe places to work.
Education for Workers' Children is provided, and we plan on increasing this wherever possible.
Training - We ensure all our workers are given the best training from Master Craftsman, including in traditional arts such as hand tye and dying, and specialist embroidery so these important traditional arts are not lost, but benefit our workers.
Environmental Protection - We insist that the factories use the highest quality control fabrics sourced locally to help boost the local economy there, as well as reduce fuel consumption, and hence CO2 emissions.

Aftershock prides itself on long-standing and positive working relationships across its supply chain. Designers and buyers alike only purchase fabrics, textiles, prints and other materials from reliable sources at trade events. It is also strictly forbidden for companies to sub-contract work to factories that are unknown to Aftershock. As a last resort, the Company is prepared to stop sourcing from a factory if necessary improvements are not made over a reasonable time frame.

The brand is continuously making progress to source from only the most responsible of suppliers within the supply chain. In due course Aftershock also hopes its efforts will enable it to join the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). This creates an opportunity to benefit from shared learning and interaction with other members, including companies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and trade unions. The ETI's ultimate goal is to ensure that the working conditions of workers producing for the UK market meet or exceed international labour standards. Aftershock has already implemented a code of conduct in their own factory in India and monitors the efforts of managers so ethical standards are enforced and upheld.

Click here to download our supplier code of conduct

Charities & Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs)

Aftershock is also committed to supporting a broad spectrum of national and international charities. As well as creating and employing a strict code of ethics at our Indian factory in order to ensure the financial and physical wellbeing of our staff there, we are proud to have recently lent our support to the following charitable organisations:

Aftershock took part in One World Fashion Week to showcase it's SS'10 Collection and raise money for the people and children of Haiti who face so much loss, destruction and devastation after the recent earthquake and aftershocks there. We would like to take the opportunity to kindly ask all our customers around the world to donate generously to our partners UNICEF who are doing their best to help rebuild the lives of the Haitian people. This is by no means a small task and it will take months if not years to unite families, rebuild the country's infrastructure and restore a sense of peace and stability to the region.