LIBERTY LAUNCHES PRINT FOCUSED SWIM AND BEACHWEAR COLLECTION

Fresh from the launch last autumn of its luxury sleepwear line, high-end London Department store Liberty is now taking a deep dive into own-brand swimwear for both women and men.

The company has unveiled the collection in-store and on May 17, it will launch the full collection online.

The new offer sees it making the most of its massive archive of heritage prints as the department store replicates a house-brands strategy that has been successful for other sector peers of late.

While Liberty is known as a destination for luxury brands, and is set to remain so, it has increasingly been moving into in-house brands. And that's something that midmarket peer John Lewis has also been doing recently with the latter seeing huge success on the back of that strategy.

Liberty, which already offers its own brand leather goods (with sales rising strongly), as well as that sleepwear line (which has also been growing fast), has major potential in the own-brand area and its slow and steady strategy, entering sectors that can maximise the impact of its world-famous prints, certainly makes god commercial sense.

And it retains a commitment to luxury throughout, Designer Cat von Baal told us that the company has used “the finest Italian swim fabric that has a beautiful hand feel. The prints we selected from the archive and were hand-painted by the in-house design team.”

Importantly, the company is also using the famous, best-selling Tree of Life print (the Liberty peacock and cobra) with von Baal saying this print is used to help it offer a “bridge point between the men’s and women’s collection in terms of design.”

Other archive prints include Legend, Mina, Valencia and Arboreal, updated and carefully placed on individual pieces to ensure the most flattering look (after all, careless print placement on swimwear could be a disaster).

So what does the collection comprise? It’s a wide line-up from simple bandeau and triangle bikinis with various cuts of bikini bottoms, plus swimsuits, and beach cover-ups such as wrap dresses, shorts and kaftans. There are also slippers and scarves, plus hats from UK milliner Christys. The prices go from £85 ($110) up to £595 ($515).