Tu (clothing)
{{Short description|Supermarket clothing brand}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Tu
| industry = Fashion
| founded = 2004
| founder =
| num_locations = 400+
| owner = Sainsbury's
| website = {{URL|https://tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk}}
}}
Tu is a British home brand fashion label from the supermarket Sainsbury's. It is the United Kingdom's third largest online clothing retailer and the United Kingdom's sixth largest clothing retailer by volume.{{Cite web |title=Tu |url=https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/brands-that-deliver/tu |access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Sainsbury's |language=en}}{{Cite web|title=Top online stores in the Fashion segment in the UK in 2021, by e-commerce net sales|url=https://www.statista.com/forecasts/870303/top-online-stores-fashion-united-kingdom-ecommercedb|access-date=2022-10-11|website=Statista|language=en}}
Tu sells a wide range of clothing for men, women and children, with 3,000 lines sold through 400 Sainsbury's supermarkets.{{Cite web |title=Tu |url=https://www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/brands-that-deliver/tu|access-date=2022-10-11 |website=Sainsbury's |language=en}}
Timeline
The Tu brand was founded in 2004 by Sainsbury's as a replacement for the Jeff & Co range designed by Jeff Banks. The new brand included a line of childrenswear created by Adams. It was initially launched in 160 stores.{{Cite web |date=2004|title=New campaign: Sainsbury's Tu|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/new-campaign-sainsburys-tu/222224|access-date=2022-06-12 |website=campaignlive.co.uk|language=en}} The original range included both clothing under the "TU" brand and homewares under the brand "TU Home".{{cn|date=October 2023}}
In 2011, Sainsbury's entered into a partnership with the television clothing guru Gok Wan to design a new clothing range.{{Cite web |last=Owen|first=Ed|date=2011-03-02|title=Gok Wan designs clothing range for Sainsbury's|url=https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/gok-wan-designs-clothing-range-sainsburys/1057824|access-date=2022-10-11|website=campaignlive.co.uk|language=en}}
In 2013, Sainsbury's relaunched the Tu brand, concentrating it entirely on clothing, with the homewares re-branded under the core "by Sainsbury's" brand (the Sainsbury's homewares range is now branded as Habitat as of 2021). The logo was also changed, from all uppercase letters to a capital "T" and a lowercase "u", to emphasise that the brand is pronounced like "two" and not "tea you".{{Cite web |last=Neilan|first=Catherine|date=2013-06-17|title=Sainsbury's relaunches clothing arm Tu|url=https://www.drapersonline.com/news/sainsburys-relaunches-clothing-arm-tu|access-date=2022-10-11|website=drapersonline.com|language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Cochrane|first=Lauren|date=2013-06-24|title=Sainsbury's Tu clothing range tries its hand at fast fashion|url=https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/fashion-blog/2013/jun/24/sainsbury-tu-clothing-fast-fashion|access-date=2022-10-11|website=theguardian.com|language=en}}
In 2015, Sainsbury's set up a dedicated website, tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk (branded as Tu.co.uk), to sell the product range nationwide to a much bigger audience.{{Cite web|last=Tugby|first=Luke|date=2015-08-13|title=Sainsbury's launches Tu clothing website to open up range nationwide|url=https://www.retail-week.com/grocery/sainsburys-launches-tu-clothing-website-to-open-up-range-nationwide/5077997.article?authent=1|access-date=2022-10-11|website=retail-week.com|language=en}}
Following Sainsbury's acquisition of Argos in 2016, Sainsbury's started selling Tu clothing on the Argos website in 2018. This brought a much larger demographic of shoppers to the Tu brand, enabling access to a much broader range of household incomes.{{Cite web |last=Halliday|first=Sandra|date=2018-03-28|title=Tu Clothing to be sold at Argos as Sainsbury's chases faster growth|url=https://uk.fashionnetwork.com/news/tu-clothing-to-be-sold-at-argos-as-sainsbury-s-chases-faster-growth,962647.html|access-date=2022-10-11|website=uk.fashionnetwork.com|language=en}}
References
{{Reflist|2}}
External links
- {{Official website|tuclothing.sainsburys.co.uk}}
- [https://modaknits.com/ Tye Dye T-shirts]
Category:Clothing brands of the United Kingdom
Category:Clothing retailers of the United Kingdom
Category:2004 establishments in the United Kingdom
{{Fashion-stub}}