Lidl Teams With Heidi Klum as Discounter Raises Fashion Stakes

(Bloomberg) -- German discounter Lidl has enlisted model and fashion designer Heidi Klum to develop a new clothing range as it expands a push beyond the low-priced groceries for which it’s better known.

The collection, described by Lidl as its most premium range to date, will be sold across stores in Europe and in the U.S. later this year, the company said in a statement Tuesday.

The celebrity collaboration marks an expansion of Lidl’s efforts to attract more affluent shoppers, which has seen the discounter begin selling finer fare such as lobsters and macaroons. It’s another potential challenge to Europe’s established fashion retailers, which are already struggling to lure shoppers into stores as consumers switch more of their spending toward leisure activities.

Lidl said it will continue to sell other, entry-level fashion ranges intermittently throughout the year on a “while stocks last” basis.

The discounter plans to open its first 20 U.S. stores this month and to have as many as 100 outlets on the East Coast by the summer of 2018.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sam Chambers in London at schambers7@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric Pfanner at epfanner1@bloomberg.net, Paul Jarvis