Clothes shop insurance
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Based on 39,717 reviews
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For 80% of settled claims
Why is fashion insurance important?
Insurance for clothes startups, side hustles, and businesses – whatever your fashion game, cover usually starts with public liability insurance. Protection against third party accidents and injuries, whether you’re at fault or not, is a top priority for thousands of clothing companies, providing a backstop for potentially expensive claims. You can add in employers’ liability, stock, equipment cover, and more.
- insurance for a clothing store, quotes start at £3.19* a month
- rated 4.7/5 based on 39K+ public and product liability customer reviews
- stock, accident, and employee cover – you choose what you need
What does fashion shop insurance cover?
Your clothes shop insurance quote typically starts with public and product liability (designed to cover against damage and injuries), plus employers’ liability for anyone you hire – it’s a legal requirement for most UK employers. We can add stock and contents cover too, and other popular protection, like personal accident insurance for an injury which could stop you working, or anyone you’ve covered.
Public liability insurance for fashion business
In case your fashion business causes an injury or property damage.
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your clothes business.
Building insurance
In case something happens to your business premises.
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures and fittings or operational equipment.
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your stored clothing stock, and other items.
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your fashion business.
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
Public liability insurance for fashion business
In case your fashion business causes an injury or property damage.
What’s typically covered by public liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- damage to someone’s property, because of your business
- an injury or illness caused by your business activities or products
- accidental damage or injuries caused by your employees
For example:
- while leaving your premises, a customer trips over a loose floor tile and fractures their knee
- a customer injures their hand on a faulty zipper on one of your products, and claims for compensation
**If you do employ anyone, you’re usually required by law to have employers’ liability insurance too.**
Read more about public liability insurance
Employers’ liability insurance
In case anyone gets ill or injured while working for your clothes business.
What’s typically covered by employers’ liability insurance?
Claims against your business for:
- an injury or illness that happens as a result of working for you (including temps and casual workers)
**Employers’ liability insurance is required by law if you have people working for you. Without it, you could be fined up to £2,500 a day for each employee.**
For example:
- while cleaning at the end of a shift, your summer temp catches her hand on a faulty changing room door – she needs stitches and time off work
- your employee trips and breaks his ankle while carrying a crate to the storage room
Building insurance
In case something happens to your business premises.
What’s typically covered by building insurance?
- the cost of repairing damage to the structure of your building (or rebuilding it from scratch)
- damage to fixtures and fittings
- damage to underground pipes and cables you’re responsible for
For example:
- your shop front windows are badly damaged during an attempted break-in, and need replacing
- a burst pipe in the property next door causes water damage to your internal doors and walls
What you’ll need additional cover for
- tenants’ improvements – changes to the property’s structure which you’ve organised and paid for yourself, like partition walls or wooden flooring
Read more about buildings insurance
Contents insurance
In case something happens to your fixtures and fittings or operational equipment.
What’s typically covered by contents insurance?
- accidental damage to your fixtures and fittings, or the equipment you use to run the business
- theft, flood, and fire damage
For example:
- your laptop and phone are stolen during a break-in
- the furniture you’ve ordered for your new waiting area is damaged in a fire, and needs replacing
Read more about contents insurance
Stock insurance
In case something happens to your stored clothing stock, and other items.
What’s typically covered by stock insurance?
- loss, damage, or theft of things like stored clothing items, sellable products, and other materials you use to stock your fashion business
For example:
- you close your business for Christmas and a fire damages all of your new season stock
- someone breaks into your shop and steals a large quantity of stock
Read more about stock insurance
Legal expenses insurance
In case you’re hit with legal expenses connected to your fashion business.
What’s typically covered by legal expenses insurance?
- legal costs attributed to your shop, retail, or clothing business
- property damage, nuisance, or trespass – specifically, the associated legal claims and compensation payouts
- tax and compliance disputes and investigations you need help with
- includes a tax advice helpline, a 24/7 confidential legal helpline, and crisis PR support to help you protect your brand’s reputation
For example:
- you incur legal costs as a result of a shareholders’ disagreement
- a competitor sues you for defamation after an employee posts about them on social media, and you need to hire legal support
Read more about legal expenses insurance
Personal accident insurance
In case anyone you’ve covered is accidentally injured, at work or off-duty.
What’s typically covered by personal accident insurance?
- accidental injury or death at work or elsewhere, for anyone covered on the policy
- lost income, medical costs, and hospitalisation benefit
For example:
- you suffer a head injury while on holiday, and need ongoing hospital treatment
- your business partner trips and falls while meeting a new designer, breaking their knee
Read more about personal accident insurance
This content has been created for general information purposes. Make sure you have the right level of business insurance by checking your policy documentation for details. Read our full Terms and Conditions
How much does clothing shop insurance cost?
Find out how much you’ll pay by comparing prices from a range of trusted insurers. You choose what goes into your policy, so you only pay for what you need.
Prices start from £3.19 per month
Get your quotes in 7 minutes – prices are guaranteed for 30 days.
Get your tailored quotes in 7 minutes
10% of our customers paid up to £38.32 a year for a public liability insurance policy between 1st April 2023 - 30th June 2023. Equivalent to £3.19 per month based on a monthly cost when paying for the policy in one annual payment. Paying monthly is usually more expensive as you'll pay interest. Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Example clothes shop insurance quotes, real prices
£20.13 /month
£178.92 /year
An owner-run clothes shop, located in a small retail space
- 1-2 years' experience
- No employees
- Limited company
- Based in Birmingham
Public liability
£2,000,000
Employers’ liability
Not included
Contents
£5,000
Stock
£5,000
£204.65 /month
£1,819.11 /year
A large clothes shop located on a busy high street, selling online (UK only)
- 5+ years' experience
- Limited company
- 3 employees
- Based in Aberdeen
Public liability
£5,000,000
Employers’ liability
£10,000,000
Contents
£10,000
Stock
£50,000
How we work out example quotes These examples are real quotes from our online system (created 16/08/2021). They’re based on a range of factors, like employees and location. Your own quote will be based on what you tell us about your business. Prices may go up or down from day to day, so the prices you’re quoted may differ to the ones you see here.
What kind of excess should I expect?
An excess is an amount you pay towards any claim you make on your insurance. For example, if your excess is £250 and you make a claim worth £1000, your payout will be a maximum of £750.
Insurance cover | Lowest excess | Highest excess |
|---|---|---|
Public liability | £100 | £2500 |
Employers' liability | No excess | No excess |
Tools | £60 | £500 |
Stock | £100 | £500 |
Business and office equipment | £50 | £750 |
The figures above are for guidance only and any excess applying to your quote may differ. You’ll get a breakdown of the excesses for each quote when you compare with us.
How it works
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How do I choose insurance?
Making sure you have the right type and level of business insurance can be the difference between getting a claim paid and having to cover the cost of an expensive accident yourself. Read our tips for guidance on what to consider when buying a policy.
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Does clothing shop insurance cover my work correctly?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Which type of workers do I need insurance for?
Employers’ liability insurance is a legal requirement if you employ people.
If you have people working for you, including bona fide subcontractors (BFSC), labour-only subcontractors (LOSC), part-timers, or full-time staff, employers’ liability insurance is required by law.
Read on for our simplified guide to the difference between labour-only subcontractors and bona fide subcontractors.
Does clothing shop insurance cover my work correctly?
Make sure you're picking the right cover to protect you properly. It’s important to know that if you have another trade or job, you'll need additional cover. For example, do you need to consider online retailer insurance or photography insurance?
Do I need cover for other types of work?
If you provide other services, make sure you’re covered:
Other types of insurance
Which public liability cover limit should I choose?
Think about the maximum possible loss your business could face in the event of a claim, and make sure you take legal fees and damages into consideration. You can choose from three levels of coverage – £1 million, £2 million, or up to £5 million.
Talk to an expert
Our team of UK-based insurance experts are here to help, Mon 09.00am - 05.30pm, Tues 09.00am - 05.30pm, Weds 09.00am - 05.30pm, Thurs 09.30am - 05.30pm, Fri 09.00am - 05.30pm, Sat 09.00am - 02.00pm
Call our team
How do claims work?
Unlike price comparison websites, we take the hassle out of claims for you. We know how important it is to get your business back on track quickly – and with a minimum of fuss. That’s why you get access to your dedicated claims any time, day or night. Call them on 0333 207 0560 or claim online. They’ll do their best to be fair and supportive.
The figure above is rounded across our range of products. Our claims process may vary for different products and operates on a ‘claim by claim’ basis.
£39 million in claims paid out in 2022
Paying 80% of settled claims within 24 hours in 2022
Example insurance claim
Having fashion insurance through Simply Business has saved professionals, shops, and brands thousands of pounds when the unexpected happened.
Sarah saved more than £10,000
A fire in the flat above Sarah’s (not her real name) fashion shop premises broke out overnight, causing structural damage to the building, as well as destroying most of her new summer stock. The optional stock, building and contents protection in her fashion shop insurance policy helped cover Sarah’s replacement costs and lost income.
Insurance payout
£10,050.25
Covering the cost of fire damage
Sarah’s costs
£100
The excess amount stated in Sarah's policy terms
Chosen by 900,000 small businesses and landlords
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Clothing retailer insurance FAQ
Whether you’re new to buying business insurance or you’ve been trading for a while, here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about commercial clothing insurance.You can also check out our business insurance FAQs.
This depends on your business, and which insurer is providing your cover. Prices start from £6.56 a month for our clothing shop and fashion customers – we work this out by taking the highest price from the bottom 10 per cent of all our customers paying in monthly instalments (based on data from 1 September 2021 - 28th February 2022). Most customers pay more than this but some pay less.
Each insurer looks at CCJs and IVAs differently – some apply stricter rules than others, but having a CCJ or IVA doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to buy insurance.
You can choose the payment type that suits your business and cash flow best. Some customers prefer to pay in one go, while others prefer to pay a regular monthly amount, like you do with lots of other bills. Simply Business offer three ways to pay for your policy:
- one-off credit or debit card payment
- BACS payment
- Direct Debit
If you choose to pay by Direct Debit, our credit provider, Premium Credit, pays Simply Business the full amount for your policy up front. You then repay Premium Credit in 10 monthly instalments.
If you change your business legal structure from sole trader to limited company mid-way through your policy, give us a call straight away on 0333 043 8527. It’ll only take us a few minutes to cancel your existing policy and replace it with one that correctly covers your new legal structure. It’s worth bearing in mind that your insurer and premium amount may need to change.
This will depend on whether you have employers’ liability insurance in place. Public liability insurance is designed to protect your business against the consequences of legal action brought by members of the public for injuries or damage to their belongings. But when it comes to your employees causing injury or damage, this protection only activates if you also have employers’ liability insurance.
If you employ people, you’re required by law to have employers’ liability insurance.
There’s one exception here. Family businesses that aren’t incorporated as a limited company are not legally required to have employers’ liability insurance. The government defines a “family business” as one where all your employees are closely related to you (as a spouse, civil partner, sibling, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, step-parent, stepchild or half-sibling). So if you run an unincorporated family business and you choose not to get employers’ liability insurance, it’s important to know that your public liability insurance wouldn’t cover you against damage or injury caused by your team.
We create this content for general information purposes and it should not be taken as advice. Always check policy documentation for details and seek professional advice. Read our full Terms and Conditions
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