As George at Asda steps up its menswear ambitions, senior director Glenda Hansford and former footballer turned broadcaster Micah Richards discuss relaxed tailoring, accessible price points and why authenticity matters.

George at Asda is making a more confident play for menswear. The supermarket fashion brand’s latest collection which saw it team up with Micah Richards, pairs relaxed tailoring with textured overshirts, knitwear and easy separates in autumnal shades.

Prices start from £12, positioning the range around George’s familiar value credentials while aiming to sharpen its style authority.

Glenda Hansford: “We want to be serious about our menswear offer”

George’s menswear and kidswear senior director for buying, design and quality Glenda Hansford explains that the collaboration is part of a longer-term shift: “We’ve probably been on a journey for about the last year and a half. Actually, we want to be serious about our menswear offer.”

Hansford explains the retailer is moving beyond the perception of George menswear as purely functional.

“Previously, if you’d thought about George menswear, you would have thought of basic T-shirts, joggers, quite a core functional product.”

The aim now is to broaden that into a smarter, more versatile offer: “It’s definitely menswear going much smarter casual… for all sorts of wearing occasions.”

That change has meant a renewed focus on fit, fabric and colour. Hansford points to layering pieces as particularly important as customers look for items that work across unpredictable British seasons.

“There’s a really good combination of overshirts and the shackets,” she notes, describing them as “even more important than true outerwear”.

The range also gives George a chance to highlight Studio Edit, its more premium line. Hansford describes it as “a price point up from main range” because of heavier fabric weights, different compositions and more considered finishing.

She singles out a 100 per cent Supima cotton T-shirt at £12 as “amazing value”, adding: “If you went to another retailer, it’s probably half the price of what you’d pay elsewhere.”

Colour is another area where the team is being more adventurous. “This is about being a bit brave with colour,” Hansford says, pointing to citrus tones, browns, plums and wine shades as key stories for the season.

Richards, she says, was a natural fit because the collaboration needed to feel credible. “Micah is so, so relevant. It’s important that when we collaborate, there’s authenticity and it fits for what we want to do on our menswear.”

She adds that the shoot confirmed the connection: “He genuinely loved the product.”

Micah Richards: “If I was going to put my name to something, it had to be authentic”

For Richards, the appeal started with both the product and the people behind it. “I always feel like I’m a Leeds lad,” he says, noting Asda’s Yorkshire roots.

After seeing the lookbook, he says the collection felt close enough to his own wardrobe to consider. “Some of the stuff was my style,” he recalls. “They said, ‘Well, you can pick out the ones that you want.’”

That sense of choice mattered. Richards says he did not want to front a collection he would not wear himself. “If I was going to put my name to something, it had to be authentic,” he says.

“Are you actually going to wear it? Do you believe in it? And when I saw it and I tried it on, I was actually like, yes, I do.”

The partnership also gave Richards an opportunity to raise awareness of George’s menswear offer among shoppers who, like him, may not have realised the breadth of the range.

“I didn’t know that George did men’s to start with,” he admits. “When I found out they actually do men, I was like, oh, maybe I can bring some more awareness to this.”

Affordability was one of the biggest surprises. “I didn’t know you could get a full outfit for that price,” he says. “It just shows you how out of touch I was.”

That accesibility strengthens the proposition: “It’s that relatability as well. If I’m going to promote something and be ambassador, I’ve got to believe in it.”

From football culture to everyday wardrobes

The collaboration lands at a moment when football and fashion are increasingly overlapping, from punditry wardrobes to pitch-side style. Hansford says George’s personality as a brand made Richards a strong match. “The George brand has got personality,” she says. “So it’s fitting that we work with someone that has also got a fantastic big personality.”

Richards is clear that the campaign had to feel natural rather than overly staged. “Doing the modelling stuff, honestly, I hate it,” he jokes. “As long as I can be myself… I’m on board.”

The shoot, he explains, became more of a creative day than a traditional fashion job: “We started dancing… and in the end, I really liked it.”

For George, Richards’ involvement sits alongside a broader move to use personalities, influencers and content creators to extend the brand’s reach. Hansford points to previous collaborations across womenswear and menswear and says the approach is likely to continue.

“Influencers and content creators are absolutely something that we’re looking to develop further,” she says.

“I want this to be a long-term thing”

Richards concludes that the campaign has already moved beyond an one-off endorsement for him. “I genuinely love it,” he says. “But I want it to grow. I don’t just want it to be like, oh, we had that collaboration for six months/ a year. I want this to be a long-term thing.”

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