River Island’s move to up its UK production has helped it put new product in-store quicker and contributed to bestsellers, according to reports.
The high street retailer’s chief executive, Ben Lewis, told The Times that River Island had increased the number of items manufactured in the UK by 50% in the last 12 months because of rising labour costs in China. Having a closer connection with factories in the UK had meant River Island was able to get “new fashion” to its customers “much quicker”.
Lewis told the newspaper: “As a result, some of those products have become absolute bestsellers. We can get more of them and work closely with the factories.”
He added: “In this kind of tough trading environment, having a short line of supply is even more important.”
River Island will focus on using the UK as a production base to facilitate “fast fashion”, playing to the strengths of UK factories and skills.
The retailer is launching its Design Forum collection at London Fashion Week next week. Designer Julian J Smith has designed a capsule collection of limited edition pieces for the retailer.
The fashion chain is also sponsoring the BFC’s Fash/On Film initiative at London Fashion Week to support and develop relationships between fashion designers and film makers. River Island has produced a short film which will premiere at the event showcasing its Design Forum collecion.
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