When it started in 1998, this distributor of designer clothes had plenty of contacts in the fashion world – founder Paloma Perez had been international head of womenswear for Paul Smith. The strength of 1927 London has been the discovery of high-profile labels, such as Jade Jagger and Frost French, and it is also the sole UK and European distributor of the hot American brand Juicy Couture. The firm recently opened a showroom in Milan and its sales have risen 114% a year from £555,000 in 2000 to £5.4m in 2003.