Aldi is making its first move into branded fashion in France, as it aims to follow Lidl’s success in turning supermarket merchandise into sought-after apparel.

The retailer will launch its Aldi Studio capsule collection across its 1,300 French stores on July 18, marking its first foray into clothing and accessories.

The limited-edition summer range uses Aldi’s red, white, yellow and blue brand colours across a dozen items, including T-shirts, pool slides, hats, caps and a thermal flask.

In keeping with Aldi’s discount positioning, prices range from €1.99 to €6, equivalent to around £1.70 to £5.15.

While the launch may appear to be a light-hearted marketing push, Lidl’s success in branded apparel suggests there could be more at stake.

The rival discounter’s own-logo clothing collections have become popular with shoppers in France, helping Lidl rank eighth among retail chains for the number of fashion transactions in the first quarter of 2025, according to Kantar.

Aldi will now be hoping its own branded range can generate similar interest, using the visual codes of its shopping bags and store identity across everyday summer items.

The move also points to the growing power of discount grocers as lifestyle brands, with Lidl having shown that shoppers are willing to buy into supermarket branding beyond food and household essentials.

Aldi has operated in France for almost 40 years and now runs more than 1,300 stores in the country, employing around 15,000 people.

The wider Aldi Nord group operates across eight European markets and employs more than 90,000 staff.

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