Phillip Hatton: store manager

Everybody has a story. What’s behind the shopper-stopping wall designs saying ‘With love from Paris’ by a little Cross Street clothes shop? Store manager Phillip Hatton explains more about Etre Cecile’s mix of fashion and fundraising. Interview by Nicola Baird. 

Etre Cecile, set up by Yasmin Sewell and Kyle Robinson, opened a year ago (March 2018). It specialises in wearable fashion for people who enjoy that special mix of Parisian style and British wit. The shop is in the absolute heart of Cross Street, just opposite Farrow & Ball (itself surely the beating heart of artistic Islington). https://islingtongiving.org.uk

FOLLOW ISLINGTON FACES a new interview is published every week. Please also come and see our free “Inspiring Islington” photography exhibition at Islington Museum from 5 April – 3 June 2019. More info on www.islingtonfacesblog.com/events

Manager Phillip Hatton, dressed today in red fluffy jumper, chinos and trainers, joined Etre Cecile in August and has loved his move to Cross Street. Islington Faces met him in the store, half an hour before it opened for Friday trading. “My background is in retail. I’ve set up stores before as I was a visual manager for American Apparel designing all the windows and the look of the store,” says Phillip a London College of Fashion graduate who grew up in Preston but after 16 years in London – much of it in Hackney – now lives in Camberwell with his boyfriend.

“I’ve always known about Cross Street as I worked in a jewellery shop here (in what’s now Farrow & Ball). It’s such a nice community of shops. I’ve a good relationship with all the managers. The girls at Farrow & Ball put their thumbs up by the window to check I’m alright; I get flowers for the shop from Untitled Flowers and often buy lunch at the Angel Deli.”

===========

Places Phillip loves in Islington

• “I’m quite Cross Street centric! I love Untitled Flowers at 6 Shillingford Street – it saves me when I have an unexpected dinner or event. I’m a trainedflorist so I think flowers are amazing” https://www.untitledflowers.com
• “Definitely Paper Mache Tiger, 26 Cross Street which I go to daily. There’s a café and it’s an incredible space selling clothes, homewares and the best coffee around. The barista, Duncansays it used to be a pencil factory and a place people made old-style canvas tents.”http://www.papermachetiger.com
• “I get lunch from the Italian deli, Angel Delicatessen, 48 Cross Street. They do the best lasagne.” https://m.facebook.com/angeldelicatessen/
• “Really like the pastries they have at Popham’s Bakery at 19 Prebend Street, off Essex Road. The rosemary and sea salt twist is a must!” https://www.pophamsbakery.com

==============

Because Etre Cecile is owned by Kyle Robinson, who is also behind nearby Paper Mache Tiger – a café, sales agency and concept store in an amazing, glass-roofed space – Phillip’s colleagues are a mere stones’ throw from the Etre Cecile store on Cross St.

Right now there’s an eye-catching design on Etre Cecile’s external wall, on Shillingford Street. Featuring large red lips stating ‘With love from Paris’, which quickly become an Instagram hit and also name-checks Islington Giving. Philip, 32, explains how this came about: “We’re lucky because the wall belongs to us and we want to support what we can in the community. Before we had a slogan ‘Women in history shouldn’t be a mystery’, a collaboration between Etre Cecile and Stylist (magazine) to mark 100 years of female suffrage. We also made a T-shirt with the slogan and all profits from each sale went to Women’s Aid,” says Phillip.

“That design had been there a while, and we wanted to come up with something new. As a small business I feel very supported by the local community – it’s locals who buy our clothes, one lady even popped in the other day to ask if I wanted her to bring me some lunch – so we wanted to give something back locally. I researched local charities online and this perfect charity came up – Islington Giving. I contacted them and found that they were based so close to us. Then Sam from Islington Giving came over. He’s a super nice chap and we discussed options. So now we’re doing this ‘With love from Paris’ T-shirt and have the design on the wall – painted by Lorne Christie. It’s a slogan we carry through the seasons and one of our most popular T-shirts so we knew it would be successful and give the most back. The T-shirt costs £65 and every time one is sold, £10 goes towards Islington Giving.”

“Our customers are women, aged around 30-50, and definitely local,” says Phillip pointing out his favourite slogan T-shirts and jumpers from Etre Cecile’s rails of temptingly super soft, European-made fashion basics. So if you want to marry Parisian style with British wit and support Islington Giving, then go and have a look at  Etre Cecile – and be sure to pop into Paper Mache Tiger for a coffee or green tea afterwards.

• https://www.etrececile.com 40 Cross Street, N1. Open Wednesday – Sunday (approx 11am-5pm but check opening times on web)
• http://www.papermachetiger.com26 Cross Street, N1
• https://islingtongiving.org.ukworking with local people and organisations to change lives for the better in Islington. It offers many opportunities to give time, money, space ideas and networks to change lives.

Over to you
If you’d like to nominate someone to be interviewed who grew up, lives or works in Islington, or suggest yourself, please let me know, via nicolabaird dot green at gmail dot com. If you enjoyed this post you might like to look at the A-Z  index, or search by interviewee’s roles or Meet Islingtonians to find friends, neighbours and inspiration. Thanks for stopping by. Nicola