When we discovered this unsolicited review on a shopping website, we were delighted, as we’d find it hard to dream up a better expression of the Out of Xile brand:
“What bliss – they are so beautiful and ‘different’: feminine but not sissy. Clothes with a twist!! The fabrics and trimmings are so scrumptious. Seek them out – they are fabulous… Thank you Cathy.”

Out of Xile is created by Cathy Hewlett and a small team based in London and Kent. Cathy began selling her first collections almost 25 years ago, and started Out of Xile in the 1990s. While the brand has grown since then with stockists across the UK and Ireland, it has never lost its founder’s personal touch. Almost every garment in the collections is wholly made in the England, and all the clothes are trimmed, dyed and finished here.
Out of Xile uses exclusively natural fabrics – including silks, cottons, viscose and fine woollens. Our hallmark is that we blend these different fabrics across areas of the clothes and trims, before garment-dyeing them in a range of subtle shades. The process produces clothes with a soft, easy-to-wear unstructured line (often assisted by bias cutting) and a subtle variation of shades and textures. The look is stylish, without being dressy or formal – ‘shabby chic’.
Each garment carries the name of the designs’ creator, and our swing ticket is a personal statement of the company’s philosophy:
Every Out of Xile garment is an individual creation. Its soft, fluid, worn-in look is achieved by our unique dyeing process that produces subtle variations in colour palette and shading.
We have chosen sensuous fabrics and opulent trims to create a flattering, feminine line, because we want you to enjoy wearing your new Out of Xile garment, and to feel as good as you look.
Cathy Hewlett