Next, Sainsbury’s and M&Co all commission creatives from Fashion UK.
Busy Fashion UK has been working with leading retailers Next, Sainsbury’s and M&Co on a number of creatives to mark the arrival of Star Wars: The Last Jedi.
The popular licensee’s designs offer a mix between the classic Star Wars and contemporary interpretations, giving more choice and availability to the childrenswear ranges at the respective brands.
The clothing ranges – which include children’s tops, sweatshirts, leggings, loungewear and more – are all available to buy online and in-store across the UK and include metallics, sports luxe, embossing, plus a variety of new techniques and fabrics.
Jennie Sinclair, assistant buyer at Next, commented: “Star Wars is a strong licence due to its existing and ever growing fan base and as the new film brings on new characters it undoubtedly opens the film up to a wider fan base of children.
“We have, therefore, teamed up with Fashion UK to create some clothing that has a nice mix of detail from foils to all over prints that we think will be perfect for our target audience.”
Describing the Next product designs Amber Hill, creative director at Fashion UK, said: “Next knows that the devil is in the detail, and so we knew their designs would have to be full of interesting elements.
“With this in mind we created an ombre effect monochrome t-shirt embellished with sketch effect icons and foil highlights, and a colourful, blend effect, Stormtrooper t-shirt.”
Meanwhile, M&Co has seen a notable uptake in the Star Wars fashion ranges and will look at potentially launching a new range once this film has been released.
Debbie Gibson, senior buyer for boyswear, M&Co, said: “The initial reactions to the range from Fashion UK have been really positive and we expect sales to increase in the run up to Christmas and the film release, of course.
“It looks looks great and follows a sports trend that we have seen significant success with in our main range, so we will look at offering Star Wars again in the future and will certainly look for new designs around any new launches for the Star Wars brand.”
Amber added: “The M&Co range is all about impact. Lots of consumers are looking for garments that are statemental, yet wearable, and the vibrant marl knit Stormtrooper design and split design t-shirt with striped neckline, we designed for them definitely appeals to this side market.”
Sainsbury’s is also looking forward to seeing how the new range performs.
Taylor Barnes, assistant buyer for boyswear, said: “We use Fashion UK to help keep us ahead in the market as their designs are modern and trend led and they tailor them well to our needs and the latest Star Wars range was no different. We look forward to seeing how successful this range will be in the run up to the film.”
Fashion UK’s Amber concluded: “The demand for supermarket clothing ranges is on the rise, and consumers no longer expect them to be less well designed than those from pure fashion retailers.
“We harnessed the monochrome colour scheme associated with Star Wars and highlighted the designs with pops of colour. We also used silver detailing to lift the designs and give them a contemporary twist, whilst using ribbed hems to still give them a cosy feel.”
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