Samantha Cameron: ‘Public scrutiny made me obsessed with clothes that won’t let you down’

Cameron, who in 2021 told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour that Brexit had made business survival “challenging and difficult”, says that “supply chain disruption continues to cause problems.

So I care a lot about things that travel well, and details like poppers to keep your bra strap in place, and stitching down the buttons of a shirt dress and putting a zip in the side so that nothing gapes.” One high-profile customer “works in television and likes to run into work, and she runs with a Cefinn dress rolled into her rucksack and then she can put it on and be on television and it doesn’t need ironing.”

The high percentage of returns, which are costly for businesses and have a large environmental impact due to transport emissions of multiple journeys and unwanted clothes languishing in depots, is also a factor.

The London-based brand Rixo has successfully converted its young, digitally native audience to physical shopping, opening several stores in the capital.

Cefinn sells to an affluent customer – the average shopping basket checks out at £360, although the tendency to buy multiple sizes with a view to return inflates this figure among online retail – but Cameron is at pains to downplay its poshness, describing the store location close to the ritzy real estate of Sloane Square and Knightsbridge as “convenient for both our north London and south London customers”.

“October is a bigger month for us than September, because it’s not the beginning of a new season that matters, it’s the moment a bit later when you start to think about what to wear for Christmas and parties – and maybe you need to buy a jumper.”