Branching out: I.T opens store with shop-in-shops

Hong Kong – Multi-brand fashion retailer I.T has opened a new branch in the Silvercord Mall in Hong Kong. Like the brand’s other stores, the new location features a range of designers, but the latest outlet has a shop-in-shop aesthetic, with each designer given their own space in the store.

Department store retailers often give brands their own areas, designated by signage and an occasional change in décor, but I.T has created different rooms with their own entrances as if they were separate stores. Each room has its own brand aesthetic. Swedish label Acne’s space, for example, is painted in soft pink to correspond with its global retail identity.

The shop-in-shop concept reveals a symbiotic relationship between retailer and brands, in which all can co-exist. It is especially useful for designers, who can maintain their brand identities in the space, but take advantage of the footfall of a multi-brand retailer. For more examples of interdependent brands, read our Symbiotic Branding macrotrend.