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Clothing & retail insurance

Price beat guarantee

We guarantee to beat your new insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

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Stolen laptop? Damaged mobile? We'll replace your essential tech within 24hrs of claim approval, with Business Tech Essentials.

Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays

  • We can cover you at your shop or when selling from home, at fairs, pop-ups or online.
  • No admin fees if you need to make changes to your policy.
  • 0% APR on your monthly Direct Debit payments in the first year.

    Over 18s, subject to eligibility.

  • We won't be beaten on price. We'll beat your new business insurance quote or renewal premium from any other insurer.

    New policies only. Cover on an equivalent basis to ours. Excludes policies with home emergency cover added. Qualifying criteria apply. Terms & Conditions.

Retailers' insurance made for you

The beauty of working in fashion retail is that you can run your business exactly as you see fit. Insurance might not be as glamorous as the clothes you work with, but it can offer you the security you need to grow your retail empire.

At Direct Line for Business, we offer personalised business insurance that can cover your services, your employees, your workplace and your stock. You can pick and choose from a range of cover options to create a policy that reflects your unique business needs.

The right insurance for your fashion business

As a retailer, public and product liability cover is something you should consider. Whether you see your customers face-to-face or just sell online, product liability insurance is crucial to cover you against claims. If a child choked on a loose button from a piece of clothing you sold, product liability would cover any compensation and court fees if legal action was pursued.

Public liability will cover you for accidental damage to other people's property or injury caused by you or your property. This could be at your shop or when trading at markets and fairs.

It doesn't matter if you sell from a shop, online or at fairs, you'll still have a considerable amount of valuable products and materials that need the right cover. Whether you purchase wholesale or create your own designs, stock damage is a major concern for a retailer.

We can cover the stock and raw materials at your premises and you'll also get an extra 25% covered for two months of your choice (seasonal increase only). This is especially useful if you have a busy period when the new season starts or you increase your stock to meet higher demand, for example at Christmas.

There are other issues to consider when deciding what type of cover to include in your business insurance policy. What if there was a fire in your clothes shop or home workspace? Many small businesses would struggle with the costs of repairing the damage. You can add buildings cover to your insurance policy to help cover these costs.

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Your cover options

Add any of the following cover options to your Clothing and Accessories Retail Insurance policy to create cover that precisely fits your business needs. These covers are subject to policy conditions and limits.

  • Public and product liability

    Public liability insurance covers you if you cause injury to a member of the public or accidentally damage someone's property. An example of this could include a customer slipping on a wet floor in your shop or office and hurting themselves, or causing damage while carrying out building works on a client's house.

    This insurance also covers you if a customer or member of the public becomes ill or suffers an injury because of a product you have supplied. For example, if the heel snaps off a shoe someone has bought from you, causing them to fall over, or if a cupcake you sell at an event makes someone sick.

    If the people in question pursued legal action against you, public and product liability insurance would cover the costs you are liable to pay. We can offer cover from £1 million to £10 million.

    Read more about public liability

  • Employers' liability

    Employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement if you have employees. There are a couple of exceptions to this rule, which you can read more about here.

    We cover you for £10 million, as standard. This covers the legal and compensation costs you are required to pay if an employee gets injured or becomes ill because of the work they do for you.

  • Buildings cover

    If there is an insured event such as flood or fire at your work premises, buildings insurance will cover the costs of repairing the damage, helping you get back up and running.

    Equipment breakdown cover (for items forming part of the building) is included as standard. This would cover the costs of replacing or repairing things like your broken boiler and fire/burglar alarms, as long as the damage is not due to wear and tear.

  • Contents and stock

    Contents and stock cover is essential for businesses that supply goods or rely on specific equipment to run their business.

    A seamstress would not be able to work without a sewing machine, a web designer would not be able to code without a computer and you may not be able to run your business without your trusty tablet.

    Meanwhile, there will be other more general items that you might rely on for your business, like your office furniture or your shop tills. Insure your business contents so that if they're damaged by an insured event, such as fire or theft, your business keeps going.

    If you sell goods, you'll want to insure your stock, whether that's raw materials or the finished article. If your goods are damaged or stolen, what have you got to sell?

    Our different cover options allow you to insure your business equipment and stock at your premises, when you're on the move, or both. Whether you work at home, at fairs, in shared workspaces or visit a lot of clients, we've got you covered. And when you insure stock at your premises or home, you'll also get an extra 25% of stock covered for two months of your choice as standard, ideal for your busiest periods.

    And now with Business Tech Essentials, if your essential tech is stolen or damaged, we'll replace it within 24 hours from claim approval.

    When you cover your electrical items and tech you get Business Tech Essentials. Which means if your essential tech - like laptops, mobiles, or tablets - are stolen or damaged we'll replace them within 24 hours of claim approval.

    Cover & claim limits apply. Mon - Fri 8am - 6pm, except Bank holidays.

  • Home emergency

    Peace of mind, if you experience a sudden and unexpected issue, which can cause damage to your home, makes it unsafe or uninhabitable, home emergency's 24-hour claims line means help is never far away. You'll have a certified contractor, such as plumbers, electricians, glaziers, locksmiths, or drainage engineers at your home within 4 hours of your claim being registered, to make the property secure or prevent further damage. In addition, you have access to gas engineers, pest control services and roofers, but these are not subject to the 4-hour response time. Extreme weather and remote locations may extend the response time.

    Up to £1,500 inc. VAT per claim for call-out charges, labour costs and materials for insured emergencies, such as issues with plumbing, heating or pest infestations.

    There's no excess to pay and no limit on how often you can claim.

    You can add home emergency to a Direct Line business policy, so long as you run your business from home and have home buildings insurance, home contents insurance or business contents insurance on your policy. It is available on new and renewal policies, it can't be added during the policy term.

    Home emergency isn't currently available on policies that include commercial premises.

    For more information click here.

  • Business interruption

    Depending on the type of business you run, you might work from home, in an office, at your shop, a client's premises or a shared working space. If your working premises became unusable due to an insured event like a fire or flood, business interruption will cover the costs of relocating until it's fixed. It can also cover you for any lost turnover during this time if you've insured your premises or business property with us.

    If your main supplier or customer suffers damage to their premises and can't trade, we'll cover you for the loss of business you'll suffer. Equally, if a market or fair that you regularly attend suffers a fire, we'll cover the lost turnover for the time you can't trade there. Business interruption will also cover you if key equipment that you use to run your business, like a laptop, is damaged or stolen, meaning you can't trade.

    Our business interruption cover can insure you if you or one of your key employees becomes seriously disabled and is unable to continue work. We will cover the incurred costs, up to £25,000, to minimise any interruption to the business.

  • Theft of takings

    Theft of Takings covers cash or cheques stolen from you in transit, from a safe or on you while you're working at other premises, such as your clients' homes. Maximum limits apply.

  • Cyber cover

    If you hold sensitive customer data, process payments online or just want peace of mind, Cyber cover should be considered. Because cyber criminals can be clever. Catching you off-guard and tricking you in to doing something you shouldn't, like opening an attachment in a fake email, or finding a way through your cyber-security. If this happens and they get their hands on your data or access to your bank account, the impact on your business could be devastating.

    But, with our Cyber cover, you can call the experts, 24/7. They'll be on it, helping you to stay in business and recover in three ways following a cyber incident:

    Recover financially

    • Covering loss of business income
    • Covering recovery costs, like fixing damage to your computer systems or data restoration
    • Covering fines (where insurable by law) and compensation costs following a data breach

    Recover your reputation

    • You get access to public relations and crisis management experts to minimise damage to your brand and business.

    Recover your systems and help prevent future incidents

    • Technical experts will help fix your IT issues and provide advice on how to prevent future cyber incidents.

    Read more on Cyber cover here.

    Available on new and renewal policies only. For Retail and Office & Professional customers only.

  • Legal expenses

    This covers the legal costs of providing specialist lawyers and taking action against many common legal problems, for instance disputes with suppliers or clients. Legal expenses cover can only be used if there is at least a 51% chance that the claim will succeed.

  • Personal accident

    Personal accident cover provides payment if anyone in your business between the ages 16-75 is unable to work because they've been injured in an accident, whether in a business or personal capacity.

    We'll pay a lump sum of £50,000 if there is an accidental death, accidental loss of limbs or sight, or if someone in your business becomes permanently disabled following an accident.

    If someone in your business is unable to work due to a temporary injury, then after 7 days we'll pay their normal net weekly earnings up to £500 for up to 104 weeks.

    You can choose Personal Accident as an add-on once you've completed your quote.

  • Terrorism cover

    If you have commercial premises, you can extend your cover, for an additional premium, to include property damage as a result of an Act of Terrorism. We'll cover you up to the maximum sum insured on your policy for buildings, contents, and business interruption (depending on which covers you have taken).

    This includes:

    • the rebuild of buildings damaged beyond repair
    • cover for damage or loss of your business contents, stock, and computer equipment, to help you get back up and running.

    If you choose business interruption cover, you can extend this to include cover for reduced turnover and the costs of setting up elsewhere, due to damage to your premises resulting from an Act of Terrorism. It will also cover you not being able to access your premises as a result of an Act of Terrorism within 1 mile of your business.

    Acts of Terrorism are defined as damage caused by someone acting on behalf of, or in connection with, any organisation which uses force or violence to overthrow or influence the UK government.

    Terrorism cover is only available for properties located in England, Wales and Scotland.

    Terrorism insurance is optional, so an additional premium will apply.

    You can include Terrorism cover on your policy by adding it online or by calling us on 0345 301 5066 when you take out your policy or at renewal, as it cannot be added to your policy mid-term.

Frequently asked questions

  • QDoes my house insurance cover me if I work from home?

    It's a common misconception that if you work from home all aspects of your business will be covered under your home insurance policy. This is not always the case. However, creating your home business insurance policy with us means you keep costs down by only paying for the cover that you need. You can also insure your home building and personal belongings with us, so everything you need is on one policy.

  • QDo you cover online businesses?

    Yes, we'll cover you if you sell your products online. However, this is dependent on where you are importing and exporting your products from. Answer a few questions about your business using our easy-to-use online quote tool, and we will let you know what we can and cannot cover you for.

    It is important to have product liability insurance even if you don't meet your customers in person, as they could still be injured by something you have sold them online.

  • QAre there any fashion and accessories retailers you don't cover?

    At present, we cannot offer cover to jewellers or fur retailers. This could change in the future as we are always reviewing our insurance practices.

    You can also see a full breakdown of the cover we can offer you when you get a quote with us.

Policy documents

If you have an existing quote or policy with us, you can view and download your policy documents from the My Account page.

We tailor all our policies, so your documents only show what you've chosen to cover.

Below is a summary of a generic policy, from 25 October 2020 onwards, which shows the main covers and exclusions in our policies.

How can we help?

Our virtual assistant is here to answer your questions. And in cases where it doesn't have the answer, we'll put you in touch with someone who can help.

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Opening hours:

  • Monday to Friday 8am - 6pm
  • Saturday 9am - 3pm
  • Sunday closed
Call us on 0345 605 9168