Liverpool-based retail giant Shop Direct is to launch a stand-alone luxury range women’s range, dubbed Very Exclusive.

It follows the arrival last year of my-wardrobe.com founder, Sarah Curran MBE, who was tasked with developing its higher end offering. Curran has already recruited a new team to lead the offering, not least Lauren Stevenson, former head of PR and communications at Harrods, who will take on a similar role for the Liverpool-based firm.

Strictly online-only, the offer will be officially launched at London Fashion Week in February next year, taking its position amongst designers including Kenzo, Vivienne Westwood and Marc by Marc Jacobs.

Sarah Curran explained:

“With Very Exclusive, we’ll be looking to offer a curated edit, along with our favourite must-have pieces of each collection that will fit perfectly into every woman’s wardrobe. As well as offering the option to spread the cost, there’ll also be a keen focus on accessible price points. The site itself will provide a rich editorial experience that will guide women through the season’s collections, trends and key looks,”

“We believe Very Exclusive is going to go down a storm with stylish women across the UK and are throwing our full weight behind the brand. We couldn’t be more excited to see the reaction when we push the button next spring.”

The line of Very Exclusive products will be aimed at women aged 26 to 35. Curran has brought in a buying team headed up by Vikki Kavanagh, who has previous experience with Harvey Nichols and Clare Morgan and the former head of beauty at Harrods will lead its beauty offer.

Shop Direct’s own Hugh Longland is overseeing strategic brand partnerships and marketing for Very Exclusive along with Emily London who has been drafted from American style website Refinery29 and will be head of content development for the site.

“Shop Direct’s edge as a digital retailer in a keenly competitive marketplace is our range of famous brands combined with unique ways to pay and a seamless, ever more personalised customer journey,”

said group retail and strategy director, Gareth Jones.

“When it comes to famous brands, we already sell more than any other UK retailer. Over the last couple of years, we’ve brought on board new premium brands like UGG, GHD and Hunter, and they’ve rapidly become best sellers for us. With that in mind, we brought Sarah in to the business towards the end of last year to explore the options to accelerate our luxury strategy.”

Source: Prolific North

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