French Connection (British fashion house)
Founded: in London by Stephen Marks, 1969.
Company History:
Introduced French Connection label, 1972
Launched menswear collection, 1976
Hired Nicole Farhi as designer, from 1978
Introduced Nicole Farhi label, 1983
Launched “fcuk” marketing campaign in Britain, 1997
Debuted "fcuk" campaign in U.S., 1999
Expanded into lifestyle products through licensing, late 1990s and early 2000s
Created first television/cinema advertising, 2000
Acquired mail order company, Toast, 2000
Opened San Francisco-based U.S. flagship, its 50th U.S. store, 2001
Purchased all of its U.S. operations, 2001
Company Address: 60 Great Portland Street, London W1N 5AJ, England
Company Website: www.fcukinkybugger.com




In the year 1969, Stephen Marks came up with a range of tailored up-market womenswear in traditional materials marketed under his own name. That was for the first time that French Connection came into being. Marks recognized the need for a less expensive but carefully conceived womenswear collection for a broader market. Marks introduced the French Connection label in 1972 and four years later showed its first menswear collection. The firm was one of the first British companies to address the market for well-designed, accessible men's casual-wear, and soon expanded into both formal and informal clothes for men, women, and children.

"fcuk" was one of the first British companies to have addressed the market for well designed, men’s casual wear, & very soon expanded into both formal & informal categories. It also catered to the children section in the age group of 6-16 as a scaled down version of the brand, French Connection for menswear & womenswear. The lion's share of revenue, however, remained the menswear division, which grew exponentially since its origination.

French Connection design studios were based at the company's headquarters at Bow, East London, and led by Nicole Farhi, who trained in Paris and worked for many major French and Italian companies before joining the firm in 1978. French Connection's design philosophy, in its own words, was to "always give its product that extra fashion content and value," for clothes "remarkable for their comfort and reliability, their continuing anticipation of fashion trends in fabrics, shape, lengths, and styles and their attention to detail."

After nearly failing in the late 1980s, French Connection once again was one of the hottest and fastest growing brands in Britain during the late 1990s and early 2000s. Thanks to its controversial and suggestive marketing campaign, and subsequent re-branding under the "fcuk" logo. Thought the letters did represent the firm's initials (French Connection UK), it was controversial due to its use by porn purveyors on the Internet to get around censors.

It was in April 1997 that "fcuk" started branding its clothes. Though an acronym to French Connection United Kingdom, its closeness to one of the vilest slang words ever used –"fcuk" has always served its purpose. Purpose of grabbing attention, making a distinct recall value in customer’s mind over others. The negative hype "fcuk" got due to associations like AFA-American Family Association rather added to its popularity.
This association pressed onto the idea that this brand was into promoting unethical & offensive cult. The fragrance section of "fcuk" contains some names like “fcuk Her” -- for men & “fcuk Him” – for women. Besides these there were campaigns in a certain party at New York, which had its doors knobs with cards, which read “fcuk in progress”. A holiday promotion was also called for the fragrances, for stores to issue "License to fcuk" cards, which included a code to enter at “scenttobed.com” – (a promotional website by "fcuk") for a chance on a trip for six to Club Med and a list of "best pick-up lines." A $10 million marketing campaign built on the theme "Scent to bed” was to push the fragrances toward teens. They advertised the product in teen-oriented magazines. The promotional slogan read, “scent to bed”, which was again close to sent to bed. The posters showed a teen couple cuddling each other in bed under a bed sheet as their only sheath.

The US Opearation sof “fcuk” were never upto the mark & so by late 1990s early 2000s, the firm purchased the remainder of its U.S. business (it had previously owned half , the San Francisco operations patterned with London operations). In February 2001”fcuk” prepared itself for a major expansion effort. In 2001, fcuk began its first non-print advertising campaign, with its controversial positioning maintained, but in a slightly more subliminal way. 21 June 2001-- the ads showed a couple kissing and whispering to each other with words beginning in "f, c, u" and "k." The woman's head then moves down the man's chest until it is invisible under the frame of the screen, and the man says, "FC you kinky bugger". The ad ends with a fcuk-logoed condom. The ad ran in cinemas in the UK because it was rejected for television; in the U.S., it ran on cable networks such as MTV.

The ads, as well as the company's website, attracted the notice of the UK's Advertising Standards Authority, resulting in some censorship, but more than enough publicity to make up for it. The campaign was so successful French Connection decided to re-brand itself under the"fcuk" name, creating packaging, hangtags, and store designs reflecting the logo and minimizing the French Connection name. As of 2001, the company had 60 stores in the England as well as 2,000 other outlets in the UK; its Oxford Street store in London boasted a banner with the words "the world's biggest fcuk".