Lidl to launch new fashion range - including £14.99 leather jacket

Lidl, the discount German retailer, is to launch a new female fashion range, including a leather jacket for £14.99.

The clothing collection is the latest example of Lidl's expansion plans in the UK, where it is attracting shoppers from the traditional supermarkets Tesco, Asda, J Sainsbury and Wm Morrison.

Lidl has sold basic clothing in the past such as underwear, vests and childrens clothing, however this is the first time it has branched out into fashion and will place it in competition with value clothing retailers such as Primark and Asda, which sells the George brand.

From Monday August 25, the retailer will sell a collection of female fashion products in stores. This includes a £14.99 leather jacket, stretch jeans for £6.99, and shirts for £5.99.

The clothes will be stocked in the same way as other non-food items in Lidl - they will only be sold while stocks last. After the womenswear range, a menswear fashion collection will be launched in November.

The one-off seasonal collections at Aldi and Lidl have proved popular with British shoppers, with the retailers offering heavy discounts on a range of non-food items.

Shoppers are already used to buying clothes from British supermarkets, with Asda's George brand the second biggest seller of clothes by volume behind Primark. Tesco also sells the F&F brand, while Sainsbury's sells Tu clothing.

Lidl will sell two leather jackets, a faux leather design as well as one with a boucle fabric and leather piping which comes in sizes 10-18.

The retailer will sell jeans with regular and skinny cuts, while also offering ankle boots for £9.99 and casual shoes for £6.99.

Lidl and its rival Aldi are growing rapidly in the UK. According to the latest data from Kantar Worldpanel, Lidl grew sales by 19.5pc year-on-year in the 12 weeks to July 20. Its market share of grocery spending now stands at a record 3.6pc, compared to 3.1pc a year ago.

Lidl, which is owned by the Schwarz Group, has ambitious plans for the UK. Ronny Gottschlich, the UK managing director, has said grocery shopping in the country is entering a “new era" and wants to grow Lidl from 600 stores at present to up to 1,500.

Josie Stone, non-food buying manager at Lidl, said: "This is the first time ever that we've done such a high-end fashion promotion and we're hugely excited about launching these lines on 25th August.

"Not only are these jackets bang on trend for this season but they're also £15 a pop, which is unbeatable value for such high quality. So we'd advise customers to be quick getting down to stores on 25th because they're likely to be snapped up very quickly."