New Dai store boosts Seven Dials’ ethical appeal
Dai, the women’s performance wear retailer, has opened a debut permanent store in London’s Seven Dials shopping district.
Situated at 35 to 37 Monmouth Street, the 1,400 square foot shop has made use of upcycled materials from the retailer’s pop-ups as a way to reuse, regenerate, and minimise waste and carbon impact.
Dai is also launching Dai’Cycle, a programme where customers can drop off their preloved Dai clothing in exchange for a gift card to use on their next in-store purchase. In addition, it will renew and repair the recycled pieces and offer them in-store as preloved items to new customers. Alternatively, they can be donated to the company’s charity partner, Smart Works.
The company was founded by chief executive Joanna Dai as an online business, but since then has had a number of pop-up tenancies. It has recently been awarded B Corp Certification.
The shop will stock Dai’s full collection of tailored clothing made from eco-friendly fabrics that combine stylish silhouettes with properties of activewear.
Joanna Dai said: “After so much time working and living our lives through screens, we’re very excited for our new store to empower in-person connection with our community once again. We want our Seven Dials space to be a place where women can connect, learn and exchange ideas, in addition to displaying everything we do best on comfy performance apparel for our 24/7 wardrobes and our sustainable sourcing and design process.”
The new Dai boutique follows openings by reworked clothing retailer Vintage Threads and retro clothing brand True Vintage at Seven Dials.
Samantha Bain-Mollison, retail director at Shaftesbury, said: “Sustainability has always been an important factor when selecting brands coming into Seven Dials. Whilst sustainability is becoming a saturated concept across the industry we ensure we seek out retailers such as Dai, alongside other B-Corp rated names in Seven Dials such as Finisterre, Le Labo, Vivo Barefoot, Aēsop and Ace & Tate whose ethics are all authentic and substantiated. It’s fantastic to be home to Dai’s first store, whose unique offering is already drawing many visitors within the Seven Dials neighbourhood, and creating a line-up full of content and vibrancy.”
