Topshop is officially back as it took over London’s Trafalgar Square this weekend, celebrating the launch of Topshop.com with its Return To The Runway event.

The hotly anticipated relaunch, which transformed the iconic London landmark into an open-air fashion experience, marked the start of Topshop’s new era. Spotlighting ‘See Now, Buy Now’ picks from its new AW25 collection, the runway included statement outerwear and must-have denim pieces, available to buy on its newly-launched standalone website.

It also highlighted its collaboration with Cara Delevingne, who Topshop has partnered with on a curated 30-piece edit that captures their shared aesthetic and London edge.

“As a London girl, Topshop was the place where fashion felt fun, fearless, and full of possibilities,” Delevingne said. “Coming back to Topshop now is more than a return – it’s about starting something new.”

Beyond nostalgia: Topshop 2.0 must tap new audiences

With its launch riding a wave of 90s nostalgia – from Oasis’ reunion tour to the revival of Brit Pop fashion – Topshop’s comeback has been met with excitement from Millennials, its core following from its former heyday. But will the next era of Topshop win the same affection from new younger demographics of fashion shoppers?

Designer and Co-Founder of Red or Dead, Wayne Hemingway, told Sky News that the relaunch needed to be “more than nostalgia” to succeed, adding Topshop “can’t rely on the past.”

“They can’t rely on their old customers because their old customers have now got kids of their own to spend their money on,” he said.

Style writer and fashion commentator, Amber Graafland, agreed that Topshop would need to attract and engage a new cohort of younger consumers. Its previous core brand fans are now in their late 20s or 30s, she told the BBC. This means it can’t just rely on them; it will “need to work hard to entice younger girls in,” she said.

Hemingway added that to tap into both new and nostalgic audiences, Topshop would need to build its team around both those who understood what the brand was about before and younger generations who could represent what Topshop 2.0’s new customers need today.

“We want to deliver for those that are nostalgic for a brand that they felt like they lost,” Michelle Wilson, MD of Topshop and Topman, said. “But we absolutely want to appeal to a new demographic as well.”

“Everybody had this emotional connection to Topshop, so this is like a rallying of the troops,” said Moses Rashid, Marketing Director at Topshop told The Standard, adding it aimed to “bring the swagger it once had back.”

Speed, convenience and sustainability

Topshop has supported its standalone website launch with key delivery and reverse logistics partnerships, with carrier management from Metapack, according to Kaivon Ghajar, Senior Delivery Solutions Manager at Topshop’s parent company, Asos.com.

This includes Next Day deliveries to lockers and shops with InPost UK and Next Day fulfilment for orders received before 10pm to homes and Post Offices via Royal Mail. DPD UK will also support Topshop’s ‘Instant AM’ pre-12-noon delivery service. 

ReBound delivered Topshop’s returns solution and portal, and the brand will leverage print-free returns services from both InPost UK and Royal Mail, offering customers over 20,000 returns locations nationwide.