River Island (stylised as RiverIsland and abbreviated as RI) is a London-based, multi-channel fashion brand, founded in 1948 by Bernard Lewis.

River Island’s collections are entirely designed in-house at the brand’s West London head office, and it was one of the first vertical fashion retailers in the UK.

[4] Today, River Island is considered a key player on the UK high street, with 250 stores across the country, including flagship locations in London, Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham, plus a significant online presence.

In 1948, Bernard Lewis started selling fruit and vegetables, from a market stall situated in an old bomb site in Notting Hill.

[11] In the 1980s, menswear was introduced to the business for the first time by Bernard’s son, Leonard Lewis, with the Concept Man brand.

Concept Man stores were combined with existing Chelsea Girl shops, either in unused first floor spaces or adjacent premises.

[12] In 1988, River Island launched as a menswear store in Exeter, with the name inspired by Leonard Lewis’s time spent on a boat on the Thames.

[25] In recent years, River Island has invested heavily in its multichannel offer, including in technology, supply chain and logistics.

[27] In 2008, River Island was an early adopter of content focused retailing, and launched a website featuring blogs, news, trends and style alongside its ecommerce offer.

[28] Today River Island ships to 125 countries globally, and works with international wholesale and franchise partners including Alshaya, Namshi and Zalando.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, sales fell dramatically at River Island as lockdown measures forced closures on the entire UK store estate.

[34] River Island is known for its trend led fashion ranges, all of which are designed in the UK at the retailer’s head office in London.

[35] The River Island ecommerce site has also offered third party brands since 2018, including Birkenstock, Superga and Skechers.

In 2022, River Island also launched a third party beauty offering alongside its own small range of fragrances.

In 2013, pop-star Rihanna co-designed three collections for River Island alongside her personal stylist Adam Selman.

The summer capsule collection of styles featured a campaign shot in Richie’s native California, and was available in stores and online.

The winner, Lucy Saunders, showed her collection at London Fashion Week February 2021 with a performance from UK singer Griff.