sainsburys tu clothing graduate range

Sainsbury’s is launching a high-fashion Tu womenswear collection in association with Graduate Fashion Week.

The nine-piece range, designed by Northumbria University fashion design graduate Genevieve Devine, will arrive in 140 Sainsbury’s stores from Sunday.

The range includes oversize workwear items, wide-leg dungarees, a boiler suit, lace crop top, embroidered dress, jersey embellished top and a long-sleeve blouse.

A white short-sleeve top will retail at £25, while the dungarees sell at £35 and the boiler suit at £45.

Sainsbury’s said the range was “markedly different” from its existing Tu lineup but fitted with its strategy to deliver “fresh design and great quality all at low prices”.

Devine created the collection as part of a year-long scholarship under the guidance of fashion designer Holly Fulton.

“Sainsbury’s is proud to support such incredible new talent and hope that Genevieve’s inspiring collection will encourage a wider audience of style-savvy customers to view Tu at Sainsbury’s as a top destination for fashion,” said Sainsbury’s director of commercial James Brown.

The new collection comes just days after Sainsbury’s announced the launch of weather-responsive outdoor marketing campaign for its Tu range, which will use Met Office data to select the most appropriate advertising image to show on interactive screens. Last month, Sainsbury’s appointed Mary Portas’ creative agency to raise the profile of the Tu brand.

At the presentation of Sainsbury’s final quarter results today, CEO Mike Coupe said clothing remained a high growth area for the business. Tu sales were up 5% over the quarter and 15% over the past two years, he revealed.

Supermarkets now account for £1 of every £10 spent on clothing and 23% of items bought, according to data from Kantar Worldpanel.