When people search for “Holland Cooper”, they are usually looking for two things at once: a British luxury fashion brand famous for tweed coats and race-day tailoring, and the woman who built it. Jade Holland Cooper founded the label in 2008, sold her first designs from a small stand at Badminton Horse Trials, and turned a capsule of 30 tweed miniskirts into a full lifestyle brand now associated with Cheltenham Festival, British-made tailoring, and modern country style.
This profile explains who she is, how she started, what the brand sells, and why it keeps appearing in royal, racing, and fashion coverage today.
Who Is Jade Holland Cooper?
Jade Abigail Holland Cooper, born in December 1986, is a British fashion designer and the founder and managing director of Holland Cooper.
She remains the public face of the company. Unlike many luxury labels sold to a larger group, Holland Cooper has stayed founder-led, and Jade is still closely involved in design. That continuity shapes the brand: the collections reflect the lifestyle she set out to dress — country events, racing, and life between countryside and city. Her name is also the brand name, combining her mother’s maiden name, Holland, with her family name, Cooper.
Early Life and Background
Jade grew up on a family farm in Suffolk. She was born at Manor Farm in Elmsett, near Hadleigh, and educated at Ipswich High School for Girls.
Her background helps explain the brand’s mix of practical country knowledge and fashion instinct:
- Her father, Oliver Cooper, is a farmer in Suffolk.
- Her mother, Miranda Holland, worked as a designer in London and Paris and, according to multiple published profiles, made clothes for clients including Elton John.
Growing up around both farming and a design studio exposed her to two worlds that rarely met in one wardrobe: country clothing was functional but often unflattering, while fashion clothing was rarely designed for a wet field or a March race meeting. Published interviews also recall her keeping chickens and selling eggs for profit as a child — an early sign of that selling instinct.
From Agricultural College to Fashion
Jade went on to study international equine and agriculture management at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester — now known as the Royal Agricultural University.
She did not complete the course. While attending country and equestrian events as a student, she noticed a clear gap in the market. Women going to those events had very little choice that was both stylish and suited to the setting. Traditional country jackets tended to look the same on everyone, and there was little tailored, feminine tweed available.
That observation, rather than a formal fashion degree, became her starting point. She has explained in interviews that she wanted to create clothes she herself wanted to wear. Holland Cooper was built to meet that need.
How Holland Cooper Was Founded in 2008
Holland Cooper was established in 2008, when Jade was in her early twenties.
The founding story is specific, well documented, and very different from a typical London fashion launch.
The First 30 Tweed Miniskirts
Jade designed a small capsule of tailored tweed miniskirts, finished with leather and suede details. Using fabric and ideas she found through her mother’s old design studio, she had 30 skirts made by an outworker who had worked for her mother.
She took those 30 skirts to Badminton Horse Trials and sold them from a small stand. They sold out.
That sell-out mattered for two reasons. First, it proved real demand — customers at a major equestrian event wanted tweed, but cut in a younger, sharper, more flattering way. Second, it gave her the money and confidence to make more stock and keep going.
Leaving College and Selling on the Road
After Badminton, Jade left her studies and spent her first year travelling to country shows and equestrian events. Published accounts vary slightly on the exact count — more than 30 shows a year, with some profiles reporting 39 events in the first year — but the pattern is consistent: she sold in person, from a trailer, week after week.
That year on the road did the work of market research: she heard what customers liked, learned which fabrics and colours actually sold, and built a loyal first audience face to face. Reinvesting each batch’s proceeds into the next kept the business self-funded and design decisions close to real feedback.
What Makes Holland Cooper Different?
Many British brands use tweed. Holland Cooper’s distinction is how it cuts and positions it.
Heritage Fabric, Modern Silhouette
The brand combines heritage British fabrics — tweed, wool, herringbone, and checks woven in British mills — with structured, contemporary tailoring. Blazers are fitted rather than boxy, coats are belted or sharply tailored, and suits are designed to work at a racecourse in the morning and in a restaurant in the evening.
Gold-tone hardware, equestrian-inspired detailing, and strong shoulders recur across collections, but the aim is not costume. The clothes are meant to be recognisable as country-inspired without looking old-fashioned.
British-Made Tailoring
Holland Cooper places a strong emphasis on British craftsmanship. Its own descriptions stress that tailoring is designed in the Cotswolds, hand-cut, and made in Britain using fabrics from long-established mills, including mills in Yorkshire and Scotland.
That British-made story is central to its pricing and positioning. These are investment pieces, not fast fashion. A tailored coat or full tweed suit costs substantially more than a high-street equivalent, and the brand justifies that through fabric, cut, and longevity — pieces intended to be worn for years rather than one season.
Designed for a Lifestyle, Not Just an Occasion
From the beginning, Jade described the brand as catering to every aspect of her own lifestyle. That explains why Holland Cooper expanded beyond a single hero product so quickly. Race-day dressing led naturally to equestrian wear, knitwear for colder days, boots and accessories, and eventually clothing for men and children and items for the home.
Country style has many famous faces on British television — see our profile of Helen Skelton, the Countryfile presenter known for her love of the outdoors.
What Does Holland Cooper Sell?
Today Holland Cooper offers more than 2,000 products, according to published profiles of the company. Its range includes:
- Signature tailoring: tweed blazers, waistcoats, tailored trousers, and matching suits for women and men
- Coats and outerwear: long tweed coats, trench coats, capes, wax jackets, and quilted jackets — including the Cheltenham Coat and Knightsbridge styles most often photographed at racing events
- Skirts and dresses: from the original tweed miniskirts to longer maxi skirts and occasion dresses
- Knitwear and shirts: roll-neck knits, cable knits, silk and cotton shirts
- Equestrian clothing: competition and everyday riding pieces designed for riders as well as spectators
- Casual and country wear: jodhpur-style jeans, gilets, fleeces, and boots
- Menswear and childrenswear: tailored and casual ranges extending the same tweed-and-tailoring language
- Accessories and homeware: bags, hats, scarves, gloves, footwear, and lifestyle products for the home
Womenswear remains the core, with several hundred ready-to-wear pieces in a typical collection. Prices reflect the luxury position: knitwear and blouses from around £80 to £119 in published reporting, with signature coats at several hundred pounds and elaborate capes well over £1,000.
Brand Milestones and Growth
Holland Cooper’s growth was gradual at first, then notably fast in the last decade.
2008 — Founding. Jade launches the brand and sells out of 30 tweed miniskirts at Badminton Horse Trials.
2012 — Harrods. According to Drapers, the brand has been stocked in Harrods since 2012, an early sign that its country tailoring could sit alongside established luxury names.
2014 — Industry recognition. Jade was named to Drapers’ 30 Under 30 list, which highlights emerging talent in British fashion retail.
Late 2010s — From country shows to a fashion house. The range widened into a full lifestyle offer, wholesale expanded, and online sales became a major share of the business.
2020 to 2021 — Cheltenham base. The company opened its boutique at Dowdeswell Park, outside Cheltenham — an area now developed as Dunkertons Park — and continued to grow online during the pandemic period when physical retail was disrupted.
2023 — Fifteen years. The brand marked 15 years since its founding. Its official history page, 15 Years of Holland Cooper, recounts the Badminton beginnings and the expansion into homeware, childrenswear, and menswear, alongside stores at Bicester Village and the Cheltenham flagship.
Recent years — Larger scale. Luxury London reported turnover of £54 million in 2025, projected to rise to £64 million in 2026. Other recent profiles put turnover at around £60 million. The business now operates from a custom-built headquarters near Cheltenham reported at 70,000 square feet, with a team well over 100 people. These are reported figures from published profiles and vary slightly by source and year, but all point the same way: a business that passed £10 million after its first decade and has since multiplied that scale.
Cheltenham Festival and the Princess of Wales Effect
Two associations have done more than any advertising campaign to make Holland Cooper a household name in Britain: Cheltenham and royal dressing.
The Cheltenham Connection
Cheltenham Festival is one of the biggest events in jump racing, and fashion is a major part of the week. Holland Cooper, based nearby, became the label most closely linked to how racegoers — especially women — dress for it. The festival’s organisers have described Jade’s brand as an official fashion partner, and more recent coverage reports Holland Cooper as the Official Luxury Fashion Partner of The Jockey Club.
The fit is natural. Jade first exhibited in the festival’s shopping village in the brand’s early years. Nearly two decades later, its boutique at the festival and its Cheltenham flagship serve the same audience she first sold skirts to at country events.
Worn by Catherine, Princess of Wales
Catherine, Princess of Wales, has worn Holland Cooper pieces at public engagements, and those appearances have repeatedly drawn global attention to the brand.
In May 2021 she wore Holland Cooper outfits during engagements in Scotland, including a double-breasted blazer and a trench coat. Jade later recalled in interviews how the volume of calls and online interest that followed showed the scale of the so-called “Kate effect” for a British label.
The Princess has since been photographed in the brand’s tartan and Blackwatch check coats on several occasions, including engagements in December 2022, January 2023, and December 2025 according to recent royal fashion reporting. Other well-known wearers reported in fashion coverage include Zara Tindall and presenter Claudia Winkleman, who has worn Holland Cooper pieces on television.
Royal and celebrity wearing does not by itself explain the business — the product has to sell week in, week out — but it has amplified a brand that already owned a clear niche.
Jade Holland Cooper and Julian Dunkerton
In August 2018, Jade married Julian Dunkerton, the co-founder of Superdry.
The marriage is widely reported and relevant for one straightforward business reason: both partners built large British fashion businesses from Cheltenham and the Cotswolds, and their projects in the area overlap geographically. The flagship retail development at Dunkertons Park in Cheltenham is co-owned by Dunkerton and is home to Holland Cooper’s flagship store, and the couple are also associated with No. 131, a hotel in Cheltenham.
Jade founded Holland Cooper a decade before the marriage, and published profiles stress that her business credentials — the Badminton launch, the Harrods stocking, and the Drapers recognition — were established before it. She has addressed that point directly in interviews, arguing that building a business of this scale depends on the work behind it, regardless of who a founder is married to.
The couple have two children, born in November 2020 and December 2022, and live in the Cotswolds. Beyond those publicly reported facts, details of their private and family life are not the subject of this profile.
Holland Cooper Today: Latest Developments
The most recent chapter is about scale and cultural positioning rather than a change of direction.
The brand’s Icon Series campaign brought together well-known British figures including Mary Berry, Clare Balding, and Jodie Kidd in Holland Cooper tailoring, with the campaign linked to support for The King’s Trust’s work with young women. It was a telling choice of cast: not runway models alone, but trusted public figures of different generations wearing the same tweed suits — reinforcing the idea that the brand sells confidence and longevity, not trends.
At the same time, the Jockey Club partnership, the 70,000-square-foot headquarters, and a growing international online audience point to a business looking outward from its Cotswolds base while keeping its design identity firmly British.
For a detailed interview on Jade’s approach to building the business, see Luxury London’s profile, Women in Luxury: Jade Holland Cooper.
Why Holland Cooper Endures
Holland Cooper has lasted since 2008 for practical reasons. First, it identified an underserved customer — women who love racing, horses, and country life but also care about fit — and stayed loyal to her. Second, years of selling in person created knowledge and loyalty that are hard for a purely online competitor to copy. Third, remaining founder-led has kept a consistent handwriting: tweed, tailoring, and equestrian detail, season after season.
Whether it can sustain its recent growth internationally is the open question. What is not in doubt is the scale already built from that first stand at Badminton.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who founded Holland Cooper?
Holland Cooper was founded in 2008 by British designer Jade Holland Cooper. She started the brand while studying at the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, left her course after her first designs sold out, and remains its founder and managing director.
What is Holland Cooper famous for?
Holland Cooper is famous for British luxury country clothing, especially tailored tweed coats, blazers, waistcoats, and suits. It is closely associated with equestrian style, the Cheltenham Festival, and modern heritage tailoring made in Britain.
Who is Jade Holland Cooper married to?
Jade Holland Cooper married Julian Dunkerton, co-founder of Superdry, in August 2018. The couple live in the Cotswolds and have two children, born in 2020 and 2022.
Is Holland Cooper a British brand?
Yes. Holland Cooper is a British brand founded in England, designed in the Cotswolds, and known for British-made tailoring using tweed and wool from British mills. Its stores include a flagship in Cheltenham and an outlet at Bicester Village.
Has the Princess of Wales worn Holland Cooper?
Yes. Catherine, Princess of Wales, has worn Holland Cooper at public engagements, first notably in Scotland in May 2021, when she wore a blazer and a trench coat from the brand, and on later occasions in its tartan and check coats.
