Tesco plots homewares line to propel F&F as global brand

Tesco intends to launch a homewares line under its F&F label as part of its ambitions to build the brand, which also include plans to make it into the biggest global fashion label in five years.

Tesco commercial director for clothing and home Richard Jones, who will succeed clothing chief Terry Green in May, is heading the project, which mirrors what he did previously with Sainsbury’s Tu brand.

It is unclear what type of F&F homewares will be developed but the first lines are expected to hit stores by the end of this year. One source said: “Homewares is a natural extension for F&F and Jones has the expertise in home to bring this to life.”

It is understood that all the F&F homewares lines will adhere to the same ethical sourcing standards as the clothing. Speaking at the Retail Week Conference a fortnight ago - when Green outlined ambitions to make F&F the world’s biggest fashion brand - he said that selling the right stock at the right price is “no longer good enough”. He said: “We now need the right stock, the right provenance and to provide ever increasing value for money.”

Verdict Research analyst Maureen Hinton said: “Trying to bring everything under one brand name with a distinct style is a good way of engaging with customers and encouraging them to buy across different ranges.

“F&F is easily identified as a fashion brand, so to cross over to different categories will mean Tesco has to work hard at communicating exactly what the brand stands for. If it goes down the ethical route then that is a good place to start.”

Jones joined Tesco in March last year as commercial director for non-food hard lines. He moved from Sainsbury’s where he is widely recognised as having put the Tu home and clothing brand on the map.

Green will continue to work on projects for Tesco. He said he will also “spend more time at leisure” and is “happy to hand over to Jones one of the best performing departments in Tesco”. It is understood Green will continue to champion Tesco’s ethical commitments in clothing.

At its interim results in October, Tesco said its clothing sales in the UK climbed 6.6% in total for the 26 weeks ending August 29. It also said earlier this year that clothing, which launched online in October, performed well over Christmas.