Lone Design Club Reviews 28

I booked a pop-up opportunity with Lone Design Club / Cache Bristol based on a proposition that included marketing, PR support, activations and meaningful customer engagement & data.

In reality, the delivery fell significantly short of what was outlined. Key elements were either not delivered or not delivered to the standard expected, and the overall experience did not reflect the level of investment required.

What makes this more concerning is that the business positions itself as supporting small and independent brands. Independent brands place trust in platforms like this, and in my experience, the level of delivery and follow-through did not reflect that ethos.

When I raised concerns, they were not initially handled in a constructive or timely way. It was only after I formally escalated the matter, including pursuing further action, that a refund was agreed.

At no point did the owner take the opportunity to resolve this through a direct conversation, which I believe would have been the appropriate and professional approach. The need to escalate added unnecessary stress to the situation.

Whilst the matter was eventually resolved with a refund, the overall experience was disappointing. I would strongly advise other independent brands to ensure full clarity on deliverables and expectations before committing.

I joined Lone Design Club earlier this year with genuine hopes, and my experience has been nothing short of a nightmare.

I placed my clothes in their Regent Street store during a pop-up, expecting at least basic professionalism and security. Instead, eight of my pieces went missing—eight. And the response I got from them was absolutely unbelievable.

When I reported the missing items, they immediately told me it was not their responsibility. No apology, no investigation, nothing. Just a cold dismissal. It was only after I pushed back relentlessly that they finally offered me a “free pop-up” as compensation, which, frankly, does nothing to recover the money I lost or the products that simply vanished.

To this day, my missing clothes were never returned, never reimbursed, never explained.
And I’ll be honest: the entire situation felt extremely suspicious. Based on how casually everything was handled and how quickly they washed their hands of responsibility, I strongly suspect the issue may have been internal. The idea that eight pieces could disappear without anyone noticing is extremely hard for me to believe.

And then, when I looked at their contract, I understood why they acted this way: the version I saw stated they take no responsibility for lost items (check their current contract for updates). So designers pay £1,000–£6,000 a month, but if your products vanish, good luck — they’ll tell you it has nothing to do with them.

Their entire business model seems designed so that they profit whether you sell anything or not. If they bring in twenty designers, that’s tens of thousands straight into their pockets — with zero incentive to generate real GMV or truly support anyone. And from my lived experience, that’s exactly how it felt.

The missing items, the lack of accountability, the defensive attitude, the refusal to take responsibility — all of it left me furious and deeply distrustful of how things are run behind the scenes.

If you are a designer considering working with them, please think very, very carefully. Read the contract line by line. Ask specific questions about security, responsibility, and what happens if your products disappear — because in my case, I got nothing back.
No clothes. No reimbursement. No explanation.

I walked away from Lone Design Club feeling angry, disappointed, and exploited.

If you value your work, your money, and your peace of mind, learn from my experience.

I've been doing pop-ups with LDC for a while now, it's a really great community. They make doing pop-ups an easy experience, it's a fantastic opportunity to meet other brands, and everyone is very supportive and helpful. I'm really happy I found LDC and will definitely continue to have pop ups with them

We had the chance to collaborate with LDC team for 2 different Temporary Store.
It has been a nice experience, the team is really amazing, reliable and helpful!
I recommend it :)

We have done a few pop ups with LDC the most recent being at Chelsea and they were wonderful. Extremely helpful ground staff. The locations of their pop ups are great. It is a great way to get our products reach a much wider audience

Have worked with LDC at a few pop ups now and love their locations, brands and team! Very up to date with the retail market and will place your business in the best way! Thank you excited for future pop ups ✨✨✨

Love the concept of LDC - Bought myself a gorgeous ring that I am so happy with - the lady who worked the shop was utterly divine and helped me find a ring to fit my finger - super knowledgeable and I love supporting small businesses!

I have worked with LDC since 2023 and love having my brand at their stores. It continuously improves the pop-up experience for small businesses and allows us to be in excellent locations around London. I admire the company's concept and believe in its efforts to deliver successful pop-ups.

I've had a fantastic experience collaborating with LDC company on a couple of pop-up events. Their team is incredibly supportive, and I'm impressed by the high sales traffic and constant buzz of activity in the stores. Their strategic approach to changing locations keeps things fresh and attracts potential clients, which is excellent for brand marketing. I'm genuinely grateful for their efforts. Thank you, team!

We did St John's Wood in Easter for one week, although the traffic was not alot because of the hoilday break but there was sales and we decided to do two in Kings Road.

I have visited the store alot and stayed for hours. I like the staff very much, they are friendly and professional and they do there best to make sales to all the brands there.

I have did pop-up in different locations and I think that the set up is amazing and everyone is working hard to make it as successful to all brands.

My experience is very positive and I would higly recommend them.

I’m very grateful to the Lone Design Club, for looking after small brands like my own. I’ve found them to be incredibly hard working, and trying to provide the best conditions possible to showcase my brand. In my opinion, retail and business involve a degree of risk-taking, and finding the perfect location and target audience is an ongoing process, which is what LDC is amazing for, in my opinion.

!Brands Beware!

Our brand’s decision to partner with Lone Design Club (LDC) was made based on the information we were provided, in writing and conversation. However, apart from having my products displayed in a space, none of the obligations, promises and responsibilities set forth by and on the part of LDC were fulfilled. It is also important to note that in addition to the cost of this partnership, a significant amount of time and energy was spent on our part. Unfortunately, this partnership was missold and our brand would have never signed up knowing that the information provided by LDC would be not be fulfilled. The pop-up was poorly researched, planned, mismanaged and disorganised. We have had meeting with LDC regarding these issues and they were validated and accepted. LDC promised to rectify the situation, however, it has now been a month and we have not heard from them despite our follow-up emails. This leaves us with a sense that LDC works for LDC and not the brands the claim to support. We wish we could say that our experience was unique, but unfortunately other brands that we have spoken with had similar experiences.

During our initial consultation, we were promised a certain market which aligned with our products. However, upon attending the launch and subsequent visits to the shop and other shops, it became immediately apparent that this area did not have the market as LDC claimed. LDC failed to exercise due diligence when selecting brands to participate in this pop-up - this location should have been visited and vetted before selecting brands to partner with.
 
Launch Party:
Wasn’t advertised.
No one attended.
No photography or media coverage as outlined in the information pack.
Visual merchandising was inadequate and poorly planned. The space they promised was a third smaller than the space given.

VIP Shopping: No one attended any of the two VIP shopping nights.
 
The LDC information pack also claims to, ‘Attract and engage top tier journalists and industry professionals’. There was no media coverage on the event at all, except for LDC social media.
 
Social Media:
Only one brand social media post (second image of a carousel grid post).

 
Meet the Maker Event:  
Our brand provided all the information necessary to facilitate the promotion of the event nearly a month before the event was scheduled. The event was listed on Eventbrite only a week before and advertised on their social media account 3 days before.
 
The packaging material and box that our products were delivered in was lost and three of our items had security tags left on.

This was our first experience with LDC and we will not be partnering with them again. They claim that this is not their usual practice and have had the opportunity to make things right but haven’t.

Don’t waste your money! Staff are seen regularly over-using the clicker to make it look as if there is more footfall than there is, they promise “events” that consist of just the brand owners (with no spending and no real customers!). The concept of the business is good but everything is badly executed with no consideration or strategy. You’ll be lucky if you make back what you pay to be there

Absolutely terrible experience. LDC make false claims about pretty much everything they offer: their social media followers (most are fake), influencer and PR contacts are non existent, and they don't deliver what is promised in their deck. Their customer service in the shops is shocking too and very off-putting to paying customers. They make their money by ripping off small brands who are just looking for a bit of exposure. When I had a meeting with Rebecca to explain how unhappy me and the other brands were, she acted incredibly unprofessionally and took no responsibility for her dishonest practices. As a small brand, run from LDC and spend your money elsewhere.

Have to admit I was concerned about ordering such an expensive dress from a company I wasn’t familiar with but I needn’t have worried! The customer support team were excellent and so helpful answering all my questions before I ordered. I now have a beautiful Aggi dress for my birthday party sent all the way from Poland :-) couldn’t be happier and highly recommend, thank you so much x

I bought the ambitious tortoise frames by supernormal people. They were great quality and service from LDC was second to none!

Totally recommend LDC, will use again!

Amazing brand & experience with a sustainable approach. Couldn’t recommend more highly.

Just as I ordered. As advertised. Great customer service when I had to change delivery from initial address