The ever-busy London Designer Outlet (LDO) has signed international sportswear and outdoors retailer Columbia and fellow-US-baed headwear and accessories brand New Era as the latest brands set to arrive at the Wembley, West London destination.

Set to open this autumn, Columbia’s taken a 2,210 sq ft space on a 10-year lease, stocking its wide mix of activewear including jackets, hiking gear and footwear for men, women and kids.

Columbia Sportswear retail director for Europe, Marcel Misere, said: “This opening marks a significant milestone in our UK expansion, allowing us to connect more deeply with outdoor enthusiasts and urban explorers alike.”

Meanwhile, New Era has signed a five-year lease for a 1,339 sq ft space, with the headwear and accessories brand introducing its licensed merchandise products from the MLB, NFL, and NBA, to name a few. This includes its major range of baseball caps – including the star 59FIFTY style – as well as accessories across backpacks through to T-shirts, shorts and hoodies.

Apart from the two new arrivals, LDO also said it has signed new lease agreements with sportswear brands Asics and Champion. Both retailers have been relocated to new spaces taking 1,818 sq ft and 1,640 sq ft, respectively. 

These activities follow 11 new lettings and relocations totalling 15,759 sq ft during the past 12 months, including the arrival of Crocs, French Connection and Rituals as well as a first outlet stores for Miniso.

Matt Slade, LDO retail director for operator Quintain, said: “Global and British fashion, sports, lifestyle and homewares brands perform incredibly well here, consistently outperforming their regional counterparts, and this is evidenced by Asics and Champion both signing new deals.

“With recent ‘healthy lifestyles’ trend showing no signs of slowing down, we are confident Columbia and New Era, with their extensive ranges of fashion-forward activewear, will become firm favourites among our shoppers, particularly for our repeat visiting families customer group where sport and outdoors pursuits are a key focus.” 

“Their arrival, and the renewals… form part of our wider leasing strategy which sees us work with our brands to provide the right space in the best location so we can offer a broad appeal across demographics that sustains our consistently high footfall.”