John Lewis to launch new in-house lifestyle range

After John Lewis’s huge success over the Christmas period, increasing sales by more than 15% compared to last year, the company knows it cannot afford to stand still and let competitors steal customers away. Hence my attention is now focused on the launch of a new in-house lifestyle range – Kin. Come February the 1^st, customers will be able to buy into John Lewis’s new clothing range - Kin, spanning womenswear, menswear and childrenswear.

Offering a new customer base simple but fashionable contemporary clothing at good prices, John Lewis hopes the new range will increase the percentage of sales produced from own-label brands from 25% to 30% within the year.

“We see this becoming a multimillion-pound brand and anticipate it achieving sales worth several million pounds by the end of 2013,” said McCormack, director of buying for fashion at John Lewis.(Drapers Online)

While Kin Pop-Up Stores will open in John Lewis’s 5 best performing stores, the new range will be rolled out across all 30 stores and online too.

‘The Kin branding and logo has been developed by British designer Mark Farrow while the campaign was shot by fashion photographer Boo George.’ (Drapers online)

Unfortunately, even John Lewis seems to be lacking in promotion for this range as a visit to their website quickly revealed. However Drapers online stated ‘The store is also launching a major advertising campaign across print, online and outdoor, to support the collection, focused towards the second half of the year’

I will give an update from Friday with hopefully a few more in-depth details…