Heidi Klum bringing fashion sense to Lidl
Former supermodel Heidi Klum is going to offer her designer fashions in the oddest of places: supermarkets.
The star of Lifetime’s reality TV series Project Runway plans to bring her apparel line to Lidl, an upstart discount supermarket chain based in Germany that opens its first U.S. stores June 15.
Klum, who is German, doesn’t seem fazed by seeing her apparel show up in a place normally associated with stacks of peanut butter jars and boxes of Kleenex.
“Lidl is known for making quality products at affordable prices and I’m proud to partner with them on this fashion collaboration,” Klum said in a statement. “I had so much fun designing the pieces in this collection and can’t wait for you to see it.
“I hope you love it as much as I do!”
Mass merchandisers such as Target and Costco have long offered grocery departments in their stores. The Lidl idea flips the concept by making fashion secondary to food.
Lidl stores offer weekly promotions of non-food products, ranging from fitness gear to power tools to small kitchen appliances, such as juicers and panini presses, according to Lidl U.S. spokesman Will Harwood.
In the supermarket business, such goods are known for generating some of the best profit margins in stores — and unlike cucumbers, they aren’t perishable, unless you’re talking about longer-term fashion trends.
“She’s an international fashion icon,” Harwood said, referring to Klum. “She’s extremely passionate, creating incredible fashion that is high end, but also attainable. And it worked really well with what we do.
“We’re very focused at delivering top quality and great prices. She integrates with that really well.”
Harwood declined to say when later this year the clothing line would debut, but on Klum’s personal website, she said it would be available this fall.
“Fashion should be fun and everyone should be able to afford this pleasure,” she wrote on her website.
At Lidl, that could mean picking out a dress and salad dressing in the same shopping trip.
Based in Neckarsulm in southern Germany, Lidl has around 10,000 stores in 27 countries in Europe. It will open its first U.S. stores in North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia.
Offering creative items to draw shoppers into a store — or to give those already inside something unusual to purchase — is a wise retail strategy, according to Ivan Feinseth, chief information officer of Tigress Financial Partners. He called the Klum idea “cool” and likened it to the traffic-building Costco has done with some of its unique merchandise
“Anything that will give consumers a reason to go into the store, I think is positive,” Feinseth said. “It’s got to be outside something that’s normal and what you expect to see.
“Who says a food store has to sell food? Amazon evolved from selling books. We’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of their IPO.”