Liberty has appointed Sinead O'Brien head of design, tasking the former Vivienne Westwood, Roksanda and Erdem consultant with growing the London retailer's in-house womenswear and accessories line against its archive of fabrics and interior prints.

O'Brien joined Liberty last month and will deliver her first collection for spring 2028, working on a twice-yearly main collection cadence plus two pre-collections. The remit covers a wardrobe expansion: more layering pieces, outerwear, knitwear and separates alongside the current dress offer.

What's the commercial plan?

Liberty intends to enlarge the second-floor womenswear space to present what it calls its "fashion world," spanning clothing and accessories. Pricing in the existing fall 2026 "Modern Reverie" line runs from £495 for the printed Gala maxidress in velvet or silk to £625 for the Burlington top-handle bag in leather. Liberty set its print-led re-entry into branded product in motion with the 2023 launch of eight fragrances, including Ianthe Oud, Liberty Maze and Zephirine, now stocked at Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus, Bluemercury and C.O. Bigelow alongside the Regent Street flagship.

How is the archive being used?

O'Brien said her collections "will all be rooted in the archive, which is an infinite pool of inspiration. We're just putting a new lens on it." Designers are pulling from clothing and interior archives, citing floral and garden motifs but also patterns and palettes borrowed from interiors and menswear cloths. Current pieces include a multicoloured geometric silk shirt-and-trouser set with a 1970s profile, a black topcoat with velvet lapels and a rose-printed silk lining, an oversize V-neck cardigan and a silk twill caftan finished with magnified placement prints of flowers, leaves or feathers. Outerwear and bags also use archive-driven prints, including hand-painted iterations on silk.

What is the cross-category push?

O'Brien framed the work as a "cross-pollination" of interiors and fashion. The store's clothing fabrics floor grew 140 percent over the summer after absorbing space previously allocated to tableware, crockery and small home furnishings. The redesign added private appointment areas, larger cutting tables and expanded displays for fabrics from the in-house Liberty studio, which now releases 20 new limited-edition fabrics annually, covering recoloured heritage prints, sequin-embellished cloths, silk jacquards, linens and twills.

In September, Liberty opened a second Fashion Jewellery Gallery to carry demi-fine and fashion-led ranges, complementing the ground-floor fine jewellery hall that stocks 14- and 18-karat gold pieces. Liberty said jewellery sales are up 20 percent year-over-year, attributing the increase to customer appetite for new brands, layered styling and mixed-metal looks pairing old and new pieces.

Why does the move matter for sourcing?

The expansion places more production directly under Liberty's control, with internal pattern development, print recolouring and bag manufacturing tied to a defined seasonal calendar. For suppliers, the implications include higher annual fabric order volumes across cotton, silk, jacquard and sequin categories, and a guaranteed twice-yearly hand-painted print run for dresses and accessories. Lead times will run to a spring 2028 delivery for the first O'Brien-led collection, with the four-drop cadence compressing the development window versus the current schedule.

The retailer's branded push mirrors a wider high-street pattern of owned-label re-investment, combining archive IP with external design talent. The first read on commercial performance will come when the spring 2028 collection lands alongside the relocated womenswear floor and the next wave of limited-edition fabrics.