Local Entrepreneur

Steve Cochrane

Steve is a local entrepreneur in Middlesbrough, where in 1982 he first opened his clothing store called Sliced Tomatoes. Then in 1993 Steve then opened his first Psyche store on Linthorpe Road. Just one of the boutique enclaves of the Middlesbrough store, just announced as being in Vogue’s top 100 Best British Shops. “We beat Harvey Nics in Leeds and Selfridges in Birmingham,” says Steve, the man described as “eccentric” by his staff.

Wearing a three-piece tweed suit himself it’s clear speaking to the Gazette is only one of a million things on his mind today. “This is full of my notes,” he adds, opening his black leather organiser, “I’m already thinking about Autumn 2013 so I have to write everything down.”

The flow is almost immediately interrupted.“Can you smell food? I’ll need to pull them up on that. You don’t want to buy clothes when you can smell food,” Steve says, referring to the workmen turning a section of level two into a Jamie Oliver-style restaurant for local college students. it wasn’t backed up by a 30-year success story it would seem too good to be true.

But this year alone almost £350,000 will have been spent remodelling the three-floor store - almost all of which has been invested by designers desperate to get their brands on the shelves of Psyche. And it’s no wonder it’s a hot spot for big names such as Armani and Paul Smith. Last year Psyche’s sales increased by 20% on the year before and the average spend is around £160 a visit. With 64 staff working for him - and two more in the pipeline, it’s quite an empire for a little lad from St Alphonsus Primary School. Fitness fanatic Steve adds: “To be a success these days you have to go over and above. The staff have to be the best there is, the shop has to look its best; every detail needs to be thought about. We work hard on that.

“I’m still really involved with all the creative side of it. Actually, too involved. But I’m as passionate about it now as ever. “The missus has to tell me to come home. I live, eat and breathe this place.” The Psyche story began in 1982 when Steve opened Sliced Tomatoes on Station Road in Redcar. Named after Steve’s own “punk meets new romantic” band which failed to hit the big time, the former ICI engineer and oil rigger decided to make and sell the type of clothes he loved to wear. “There was nothing like it in the North-east. People came from miles to buy our jeans and frilly shirts. “The men’s dressing rooms in Psyche are bigger than the whole shop was. But that was the start". He’s come a long way from tie-dying his own T-shirts and spraying bleach on jeans in his front room. This year Steve and his buyers, among which is his own partner of nine years, fiance Alex Thomas, attended all the major trade fairs and catwalk shows in Milan, Florence, Paris and London. They have secured a two-year deal to provide all the suits for the Middlesbrough FC squad and have royal approval from Savile Row for its tailoring services. Dad-of-two boys, Steve first moved the business to Middlesbrough in 1984 when a now-hairdressers on Linthorpe Road became his first more fashion-aware store.