Ross’s startup attracted an international following and, in 2018, investment from fashion accelerator Tomorrow, which subsequently acquired full ownership when Ross decided to move on to other projects in February 2024. Nine months later, Tomorrow sold the business on to Four Marketing, the London-based distribution and retail group whose largest shareholder is Frasers Group. Ross, meanwhile, has relocated to Northamptonshire in the UK while continuing to develop SR_A, his design studio, where his output spans made-to-order clothing under the Atelier label to industrial design collaborations with partners including Whoop.
“It’s about having a startup mentality with a head start,” said Ben Banks, Four Marketing’s co-founder and CEO, of the opportunity he sees in A Cold Wall. “There is good brand recognition and there’s good social following.” Banks, who mentored Ross through the British Fashion Council’s Newgen program, acknowledged the challenge of turning that recognition into revenue. “As a brand, it was big on cultural and reputational equity, but not so big on overall sales. I think the challenge is to keep those two things relatively aligned.”
A Cold Wall Spring 2019.
Photo: Yannis Vlamos/ Indigital.tv
Four Marketing is now preparing to expand A Cold Wall’s international reach, particularly in the US, which Banks said already accounts for the largest share of traffic to the brand’s website. The label plans to introduce US-based fulfillment from February 2027 to speed up deliveries and reduce costs for American customers. It is also finalizing arrangements for a US showroom to represent the brand for the FW27 season. Longer term, Banks said the group hopes to open A Cold Wall’s first London store.
Four Marketing has spent nearly three decades building UK businesses for brands including Stone Island and CP Company, while also developing its own acquisitions, including Agent Provocateur in 2017. Banks said he views A Cold Wall as an opportunity to apply that experience to a highly regarded British menswear label whose creative and commercial direction his group can determine for itself.
