Amazon owns many of the brands in its fashion offer

Amazon, the world's largest online store, has nearly everything one could wish to buy. Where it has struggled, until recently, is luxury fashion. Leading luxury fashion houses like Louis Vuitton have gone as far to say they will never sell their goods on a platform that doesn't meet their requirements for high end ecommerce. Just as in physical retail, adjacencies matter, and Louis Vuitton will not have its products displayed next to a plethora of affordable high street collections or indeed on a platform that favours function over aesthetic.

But while Amazon has been relatively unsuccessful in wooing the world's leading designers, it has quietly brought on board its own brands and fashion successes. With all the knowledge of multichannel retailing from first-hand analytics, Amazon knows exactly what its customers are browsing, searching and ultimately buying.

Amazon is cutting out the middle man

According to Quartz online, Amazon has used its knowledge to launch a slew of fashion and accessories labels under its own parent company. The online giant is cutting out the middle man by selling self-produced items, which to the customer look as if they are bonafide brands operational outside of the Amazon sphere.

When Amazon sees products are performing well online, it can easily source manufactures to make a similar item. No factory will turn their nose up at an order from Amazon, with volumes most suppliers only dream of producing.

While in the long term this could damage relationships with Amazon's other suppliers and brands, in the short term there is a new channel available for Amazon to create and distribute an ever greater array of products and categories, without the cost of buying wholesale.

It is not clear which products are Amazon-made or commissioned

According to Quartz, Amazon is selling products across a wide array of categories and do not make it clear that many are Amazon-made products.

To prove its point, Quartz bought an item from Amazon brand Goodthreads, to see what the packaging entailed, and if it was similar to how Amazon packages its own products. The product label said it was imported by Amazon Mexico, and listed the company’s address, which happens to be the same address as Amazon's Mexico office.

According to Quartz, Amazon is relentless in its pursuit of growth, especially increasing its share of the affordable clothing market. It is buying more jets to ship packages around the world; hiring thousands of workers a week; and using drone and automated delivery options to speed up the moment you click to buy the item, to the moment it reaches your doorstep.

Shoppers keen to know the origins of their goods should keep an eye out for brands like Goodthreads, The Fix, Coastal Blue, Ella Moon, Paris Sunday, Rebel Canyon and Smitten. These are just a handful of brands sold on the website that are possibly owned and operated by Amazon.

Photo credit: Amazon.com Goodthreads; Article source: quartz.com.com