Shop Direct Group invests £1m in fashion studios

HOME shopping giant Shop Direct Group has invested £1m to create three state-of-the-art fashion studios at its Liverpool head office.

The investment, which total 52,500 sq ft of photographic facilities has been made to allow the retailer to speed-up the time it takes to launch products online.

The new studios will be used to shoot own and national brand modelled fashion across Shop Direct’s retail portfolio, which includes Very.co.uk, isme and Littlewoods.

The group estimates that more than 20,000 items per year will be photographed in the new facility, producing in excess of 60,000 images.
While the majority of images will support Shop Direct’s own brand fashion lines, which include Love Label for Very.co.uk and Savoir for isme, the retailer is also licensed to shoot many of the national brands it stocks, from Lipsy to Superdry.

Alongside the three modelled fashion studios, which total 8,500 sq ft, the group t has also created a new 12,000 sq ft clothing and footwear still- life facility at its dedicated stock storage centre.

This is housed along with the existing 31,000 sq ft home and leisure still life studio and the retailer’s 1,000 sq ft in-house video studio.

Creative director Mark Woods, said: “In an increasingly online retail world, speed to market is more important than ever, particularly when it comes to fashion.

“Having a full suite of photographic studios in-house means that we are now able to shoot our product ranges in world-class surroundings as soon as they arrive from our manufacturers. The quicker we can make that process, the quicker our customers can access the latest trends.”