The Topman personal shopping experience

That Dapper Chap takes us on the Topman Personal Shopping Experience and tells us exactly how we can have our own.

A little background

Hello everyone, my Son and I recently took part in the Topman Personal Shopping experience and I wanted to share with you how it works and what to expect should you decide to take advantage of this for yourself or a friend, partner or family member.

The Topman Personal Shopping experience

I booked the experience for my Son’s 18th birthday, knowing that he had asked for Topman vouchers for his birthday, but anyone can book at any time for any occasion, I just thought it would be a cool thing to do for him, and neither of us was disappointed.

Our stylists Shereen & Rebecca

Cost and hassle free

Before I go on any further I want to let you all know that the Topman Personal Shopping experience is entirely free, yes, that’s right it’s FREE! No strings, no commission, no catches. Speaking to the Personal Shoppers it became clear that there is a common misconception that a person who chooses the Personal Shopping experience has to pay for the pleasure, or is expected to buy a certain amount of clothing. This is not the case. If the five shoppers and their three assistants at the Oxford Street store have done their job well (which they inevitably will) you will most likely walk away with at least one thing you’ve fallen in love with (as I did) and if you don’t it isn’t a problem! There’s no minimum spend.

The Topman Personal Shopping suite

Yours truly in my first outfit

Wearing Topman khaki blazer £80 and collarless shirt £25

All of the Personal Shoppers are paid a salary by Topman, so they have no vested interest in making you buy hundreds of pounds of clothing or forcing the most expensive items in store on you! They choose what they think will work for you and you choose what you take home. Simple as that! It’s like normal shopping but someone with a trained eye, who knows where everything is, does the hard part for you.

The plush personal shopping suite

Wearing ultra skinny navy blazer £110

Topman Burgundy cable knit sweater £32

sweater and blazer teamed with slim fit jeans

You also get to try everything on in your own special area, away from the milling hoards. Who wouldn’t want that? And if you’re a hard core shopper and feel they may have missed something, you can still look around the store before or after your visit too, just as we did.

Black stretch skinny jeans by Topman £30. Black Chelsea Boots £75

Skinny fleck blazer £75 & grid check shirt £30

Where can I get this?

The Topman Personal Shopping experience is available in the UK in the London Oxford Street store, as well as in Manchester, and Brighton. In the US it’s available in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. If you’re in Amsterdam (ladies only I’m afraid gents) you can also take part as they opened there two weeks ago.

The London Oxford Street store at Oxford Circus, has been offering this service for five years now and recently opened a dedicated lounge on the top floor which is decked out with large mirrored changing rooms, comfortable, cool furnishings, and there’s even a bit of a catwalk should you want to strut your stuff when you’ve tried on your new togs. Friends and family can sit on the huge orange leather sofa and watch you parade your new looks (bring your own TV style score cards) For more Personal Shopping info click HERE

The terrible twosome on our personal shopping experience

Grey wool blazer £75 & Peter Werth printed shirt £69

In addition to Personal Shoppers, Topman also have in store Stylists who work on the shop floor and will also approach shoppers and offer assistance while they browse the rails. If you’d like a Personal Stylist you can seek one out in the Westfield, White City store along with stores in Canary Wharf and Leeds. For more information on the Personal Stylist service take a look at the website HERE

My own brown boots teamed with topman stone stretch chinos £25

Peter Werth textured knit sweater £75 & Topman Oxford Shirt £25

Topman stretch skinny black jeans £30 and Chelsea boots £75

Peter Werth tartan check shirt £69 over Selected Homme grandad shirt £26

If you’re a super busy gent and simply can’t get time to go into the store you can take advantage of the new Google Hangout service where you talk in real time to one of the team. They take some details, go shopping on your behalf and then show you all the clobber over video chat. And whatever you buy is then posted to you free of charge. How easy is that!?

The Peter Werth tartan coat £159

The Peter Werth Tartan coat £159

Harry wears CK sweatshirt £90 & denim jacket £45

The Topman Wash bleach denim jacket £45

The Experience

Once you’ve booked your session online by entering your name, email address and telephone number you can expect a reply asking you some questions about your style, your likes and dislikes. They will also ask your budget. This is simply so they can understand what level to pitch your choices at. If your budget is low, that’s fine; they will take this into consideration and can choose value for money items so you get the most out of your money.

Leather biker jacket £180. Selected Homme Chambray shirt £45

Selected Homme checked formal trousers £75

Of course they will need your sizes too, so get out that tape measure in preparation and get a few numbers: Chest, collar, waist, shoe size, inside leg and general size (XS, S, M, L, XL etc)

Peter Werth navy corduroy jacket 179

Topman grey turtle neck sweater £38

Sweater & jacket teams with skinny stretch jeans

The next thing you need to consider is what you need from the experience. There are three possibilities here, there’s the ‘Express’ option (30 minutes) which will help you choose a specific outfit for that wedding, interview or date etc. We then have the ‘Edit’ (1 hour) which will help you with a wider event like a holiday where you get a few options based on the event or your brief. This can also cover seasonal trends and updates, and the final session (which we had) is the ‘Experience’ (2 hours) which can effectively give you an entire new wardrobe.

Chevron sweater by Topman £32

Shearling collar coat by Selected Homme £145

Once you’ve booked your session and submitted your sizes along with your brief, your Personal Shopper will then ‘pull a room’ in preparation for your visit, which is them doing their thing and going around the store gathering an array of items just for you. When you visit it’ll all be there waiting for you, all hung up in your own personal changing room. Enjoy a coffee while they show you what they’ve picked for you and then get trying the stuff on!

Our Session

Arriving at the Oxford Circus store at 10am on a sunny Saturday morning we made our way up to the Personal Shopping lounge and met Rebecca and her colleague. Both of whom were incredibly friendly and made us feel immediately welcome.

The Peter Werth corduroy jacket with the skinny stretch jeans £30

Topman premium navy sweater £38

The collar of the premium sweater £38

Coffee was poured and after I asked a few questions for the purpose of this post Harry and I were shown our respective rooms where rails awaited, hung with new and exciting clothing, all in our size, and all handpicked especially for us.

As we took it in turns to change, show and tell we revealed our new looks to the ‘ooo’s and ‘ahhh’s of our audience. It became apparent that the Personal Shoppers had done a great job. Harry liked almost every single item chosen for him and would happily have taken home the entire range. While I also genuinely liked everything that they picked for me, the general feeling of my selection was somewhat casual and I was hoping to find some exciting formal wear in the offering, maybe an unusually coloured suit or a patterned blazer, some ties perhaps, but there was not a bow tie or tie in sight .

Having said that I didn’t offer my own specific brief like Harry did (it was his experience after all, not mine!). This highlights the need for you to be specific about what you want, if you want formal, tell them you want formal, if you want casual or a mix of both just make sure you let them know. I didn’t and it was my mistake not to do so rather than their misunderstanding of my brief, so be as specific as you can be if you are looking for a particular image or style.

Topman utility jacket 60 over Levi striped T Shirt £25

Topman ripped skinny stretch jeans 45

Out of all the items that the ladies chose for us, there was one item that Harry didn’t like. I would happily have worn everything that was chosen for me. There was one item that I just couldn’t resist; a green and blue tartan coat by Peter Werth, so while they bagged that in a branded Topman Personal Shopping suit carrier, Harry’s items were carefully folded and wrapped in ‘Personal Shopping’ printed tissue paper before being lovingly packed in a large branded bag and a suit carrier.

Overall we really enjoyed our session and they really did get it right. So, if you have seen the Topman Personal Shopping experience but thought that it was simply reserved for the rich, famous or relatively affluent, think again. This is for me, for you, your Dad, Husband, partner, Uncle, Son, Brother and everyone else in between. So go and book, if not for you book it for someone else. Book together with a mate if you’re a little too shy to go alone, and when you do, tell them I sent you!

How to Book

In the UK?

To book your session online click THIS LINK

Call 0344 322 1390

Email Bookings@Topman.com

Or just pop into a store and sign up at the desk.

In the USA?

Find full FAQ’s HERE

Book online via THIS LINK

For New York call: 212-956-7973 or email BookingsNY@Topman.com

For Los Angeles call: 323-938-1245 or email PersonalShoppingLA@Topman.com

For other countries, please head to the Topman website for your specific country and check if the service is available where you are by scrolling to the very bottom of the screen and looking for the ‘Personal Shopping’ link.