Clothes out, Clippers in: Renegade Reshapes the Shop for the New Year

Renegade: Cuts & Clobber is shaking things up for 2026, with the Douglas business confirming the clothing side will be leaving the shop and moving primarily online, while the barbering side takes over as the main focus in-store.

Owner Josh Moore has moved quickly to quash Manx rumours that the Bucks Road business was closing, insisting Renegade is ‘not going anywhere’, but is instead evolving to meet changing shopping habits and rising costs.

The move means Renegade’s vintage clothing operation will gradually transition to online platforms including Depop and its website over the coming weeks, alongside more frequent pop-up events around the island.

In-store clothing stock will be significantly reduced, becoming more selective and curated rather than filling the shop floor.

Josh said the decision, while tough, felt necessary.

‘Stock is rising significantly in price in terms of getting it onto the island, and shopping habits are changing,’ he explained. ‘We want to make sure we’re putting out the best stock we possibly can.’

Vintage remains close to the heart of the business, it’s where Renegade started back in 2021, but Josh said moving online will allow them to refresh stock faster, source better-quality pieces and take a ‘less is more’ approach.

‘Rather than coming to the shop, we want to come to you,’ he said, pointing to pop-ups as a way of staying connected to the community.

Inside the shop, meanwhile, the barbering side of Renegade will take ‘centre stage’, with a new layout planned and a wider range of services on offer.

Over the past year, the team, made up of Josh and his mum Diane, has been quietly upskilling, expanding into areas such as colouring, perming, waxing and hot towel shaves.

Diane has recently completed her Level 3 qualification, and Josh said the focus for 2026 is on refining their craft and tailoring services to every client who sits in the chair.

‘We’ve really been putting our 100% focus into learning, getting better at what we do, and offering all of our clients a great experience in the barber chair,’ he said.

One thing that won’t be returning is Renegade’s popular kilo sales. Josh confirmed the last one was a ‘big hurrah finale’, with no plans to repeat the events going forward.

The changes come after what Josh described as an ‘incredible’ 2025 for the business, which saw Renegade push its marketing further, team up with other local brands, win a Gef 30 Under 30 award and receive a nomination for Small Enterprise of the Year.

Now, with 2026 underway, he says it feels like a clean slate.

‘We’re treating it as a fresh start,’ he said. ‘We’re incredibly excited to see what the next chapter of Renegade: Cuts & Clobber looks like.’

Renegade began life as a pop-up at a car boot sale in May 2021, before opening its first small shop on Castle Street just months later.

Since moving to a larger unit on Bucks Road in 2024, it has become known as one of the island’s more unusual spaces, where you could get a fade and leave with a retro jacket under your arm.

While the racks may be thinning in-store, the message from Josh is clear: Renegade is still very much open, it’s just changing shape.

And as he put it himself: ‘Change, but change for the better.’