Hannah Holloway, with Maze founders Gill & Glenn Vaughan
The independent Bristol boutique championing quality, individuality and a more considered way to shop
More than 40 years after opening its doors, family-run Maze continues to offer a distinctly different way to shop, bringing together a considered edit of menswear, womenswear, and lifestyle brands in the heart of Clifton Village.
For shoppers overwhelmed by endless choice, Maze offers the antidote. The independent Bristol retailer has spent four decades doing the hard work for its customers: seeking out the best emerging, independent and design-led brands and bringing them together into one carefully considered edit.
Rather than trying to offer everything, Maze is about selection. Each season, the buying team chooses pieces that fit into a particular way of living: understated, useful and made to last. Clothes sit alongside accessories, footwear, fragrance and lifestyle pieces, creating a store that feels less like a traditional fashion shop and more like a window into a complete lifestyle. The result is a mix of names shoppers may already know alongside smaller labels they may be discovering for the first time.
The overall aesthetic is understated, design-led and quietly directional, with the kind of labels more often found in the independent shopping neighbourhoods of major cities than on the mainstream high street. Maze’s seasonal campaign imagery is also styled entirely in-house, extending that same considered aesthetic beyond the shop floor and into the way each collection is presented.
Current fashion brands include MHL by Margaret Howell, YMC, Universal Works, Oliver Spencer, Sunspel, Folk, L.F. Markey, Sessùn, Skall Studio, Soeur, Bellerose, Girls of Dust, Paraboot, Porter Yoshida & Co., NN07, orSlow, Kardo, Novesta and ROTOTO, among others. The common thread isn't a particular trend or price point. It is quality, design, longevity and a sense that something deserves its place in a customer's wardrobe or home.
An Independent for People who Want to Buy Better
Founded in 1985 by Glenn and Gill Vaughan, Maze is now run by their daughter Hannah Holloway. What began as a small independent fashion store has evolved into a significant bricks-and-mortar and online business, while retaining the same underlying philosophy - good products, good service and careful buying. At one stage the family operated seven physical stores. Today, Maze is concentrated around its flagship Clifton Village store, supported by a substantial online operation based alongside it.
For Hannah, the role of an independent retailer is increasingly about editing rather than simply selling, “There is so much choice now that I think one of the most valuable things an independent shop can offer is curation. We don't want Maze to feel like somewhere you come to sift through hundreds of brands. We want to have done that work for you. Everything has to earn its place. We're looking for pieces that feel relevant now but won't feel dated next season, and brands where there is real thought behind the design, materials and making. Some of the names we stock are established and well known, but one of the nicest parts of shopping at Maze is discovering something you haven't come across before. That's always been part of what independents do best.”
The Clifton Way of Shopping
Maze's location is an important part of that experience. The flagship sits at 26–28 The Mall in Clifton Village, overlooking green space and surrounded by one of Bristol's best-known independent shopping and dining neighbourhoods. Clifton offers a markedly different shopping experience from a conventional city-centre retail district. Georgian terraces, independent boutiques, cafés, restaurants and pubs sit within an area that is easy to explore on foot, while some of Bristol's best-known views and landmarks are close by. It makes Maze part of a much broader day out rather than simply a shopping destination.
Brunch can be followed by a browse through Clifton's independents, a walk towards the Suspension Bridge and Avon Gorge, more shopping back through the village, then drinks or dinner nearby.
Hannah adds, “Clifton suits Maze because people have the time and space to browse. Shopping here can be part of a whole day: coffee or brunch, a walk, the Suspension Bridge, independent shops, drinks and dinner. It feels much more relaxed than rushing around a traditional shopping centre, and that fits with how we want people to experience Maze too. Come in, take your time, discover something new and hopefully leave with something you'll still love years from now.”
“There is so much choice now that I think one of the most valuable things an independent shop can offer is curation”
A Store Built Around Discovery
The Clifton store brings together menswear, womenswear and lifestyle, allowing customers to move between categories rather than shop from a narrowly defined fashion edit. It is this combination of established names, emerging labels and non-fashion discoveries that gives Maze its point of difference. The business continues to seek out brands with a strong design identity, interesting provenance and a longer-term point of view, creating an evolving edit rather than chasing fast-moving trends. For Maze, that is what independent retail can still offer that endless online choice cannot - a considered edit, shaped by taste, experience and judgement.
For more information: https://mazeclothing.co.uk/
